Sophomore Slump
by Disenchanting Smiles
Summary: People have always said Tenth grade is the hardest year. When a new teacher comes to Konoha Central Sasuke finds out how very true that is.
1. Welcome to Konoha!

Hello! Welcome to my new fic "Sophomore Slump" (From the Fall Out Boy song Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year). I got the urge to write this fic a while ago, and a lot of planning went into it, because I needed to figure out who taught what subject and all that... Warnings, yeah

-OOC, majorly. Sasuke and Genma especially. (Sasuke is hard to keep in character, especially when I'm writing a fun fic. Oh and, Genma isn't quite this way in the series... .)  
- Swearing, obviously. They're high-schoolers.  
- Yaoi. I have pairings planned, but they're multiple, and I don't feel like listing them all. Though if you know me, it should be obvious.  
- Some angstyness... Self-mutilation is a possibility.

Dedicated to: Marion Junior Senior High- My school! It's the basis of the fic, this is very heavily based off of how it's run. Why is it dedicated to my school? Because if it weren't for my school, I would be able to count without the use of my fingers and toes, and I would know my left from my right. Who needs that? Also because... I hate the school, but I love it. So, here ya go!

* * *

A blonde teen walked down the sidewalk that led to the side door of Konoha Junior/Senior High. The collar of his orange shirt flapped in the light breeze. His hair glinted in the still-rising sun. It was a typical first day of school: warm, sunny, and bright. The teen entered the building and went to the main entrance, checking the bulletin board for his homeroom. "O through Z, Mr. Hatake. Oi! That perv?" he said to himself, earning a wierd look from the girl next to him (whose name he couldn't remember) and a scared look from a little seventh grade girl. He turned down the hallway he was in, then took a left turn at the end, a few rroms down he reached the one he was looking for.

When he entered the first person he noticed (aside from the grey-haired teacher sitting on his desk reading a construction-worker orange book) was his raven-haired best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. "Hey Sasuke!" the blonde shouted.

Sasuke looked up, "Naruto," he said, nodding his greeting. He was an extremely attractive guy, with many fans throughout the school. His pale skin contrasted perfectly with his dark hair, eyes, and black "Senses Fail" tee.

"So, did you pick up any hot chicks while you were away?" Naruto grinned. After receiving a glare he said, "Okay, okay. Any hot guys?" Yeah, Sasuke was Naruto's gay best friend.

"No." Sasuke said quite simply. "No one can compare to you." His voice was flat.

"I know, but you can't have me, sorry." Naruto joked. Sasuke had been his best friend for years, Naruto was the first person Sasuke had met after moving from Japan as a young boy. Naruto had been there for Sasuke through the many rough times in his life, and even finding out Sasuke was gay did not distance their relationship at all. The announcements came on, the same woman's voice that they'd been hearing since entering seventh grade at Konoha ringing through the speaker right over the two boy's head welcomed them all to the first day of school. Then went on to tell them all what was for lunch, and give the sports schedules. "All modified fall sports have their first practice today, and varsity soccer has practice." Naruto sighed, "Why do we always have practice the first day back?" He and Sasuke were both on the varsity soccer team, which was something considering varsity didn't usually start until eleventh grade.

"Idiots, we've already had tryouts. It's not really just starting."

"I know, but I was planning on going home, relaxing, and taking in the fact that this will be the only day we won't have homework this year." the blonde said, glancing at the teacher who was just putting his book away, "Bet that perv's going to give us more homework than he'll even take the time to grade."

"Hey, Naruto! Do me a favor, and try to not talk during my classes as much. Especially if you're going to insult me." Mr. Hatake said. He was wearing the mandatory black slacks, and a loose black button-up shirt. Not normal for a teacher though, was the mask covering the lower half of his face. The students didn't understand why he wore it, he'd just told them he would wear it everyday so they better learn to deal with it. Or he had ways of making them suffer (1). Also uncomon of course, were his mismatched black and red eyes, they'd never gotten a story behind that one either.

"Pardon, Monsieur Hatake." Naruto said sarcastically in French. Mr. Hatake was the French teacher, and Naruto had been his student since seventh grade, somehow. Mr. Hatake had been very young when Naruto first had him, as he was still quite young (despite the grey hair).

"Yeah whatever," the grey-haired man sighed. He pulled a stack of papers off his desk, "When I call your name, come get your schedule," he held up the stack, "And a hallpass." He picked up a stack of salmon colored cards.

"That's the worst hallpass color ever. Seriously, they need to stop using that color.(2)" Naruto said throwing a distasteful look to the hallpasses.

"They just use the colors they can get, which is why bus passes are the same colors." Kakashi mused before calling out, "Chelsea Pomerantz."

A few moments later and Sasuke's name was called, then Naruto's. When they went back to their seat the first thing Sasuke did was whip out his dark blue Sharpie and begin coloring his pass. He then stole Naruto's and colored it- No more hideous salmon.

Naruto looked at it appreciatively before saying, "You know how pissed the teachers get when you do that?" He went to write his name on it, and it couldn't be seen. Unless you held it at the right angle, of course all teachers had the time and patience to do that.

Sasuke shrugged, "I've been doing it since seventh grade, they can deal." He held his schedule next to Naruto's and compared, "Our core classes are together. Photography and French, obviously." He continued down the list, his eyes widened as he reached Phys. Ed. "We have Gai." He traveled one class down, "Oh fuck is this a joke?" For there under sixth period on every A, C, and E day was

'Health

Rm. 85

G. Shiranui'

"We have fucking Genma for Health?" It may sound crazy that he was this freaked, but the sophomore year was the big year for learning about sex, and Genma was probably the biggest pervert Sasuke had ever met.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked incredulously. He glanced down at the schedule to confirm it, and yes, he did have Genma for Health. And if that weren't bad enough, eighth period every day they didn't have Health, "We have him for Study Lab."

"Kakashi, is this some kind of joke?" Sasuke asked their once again reading teacher.

"Is what a joke?" he looked up with his odd eyes.

"Gai and Genma? We really have them?" he glanced back down at the list, "I'd also like to know why I know all of them."

"I'm a tenth grade homeroom teacher, my friends are tenth grade teachers. They're not all nearly as bad as Gai and Genma though. You have Raidou, and my sweet little Iruka!" he cooed the last part, clutching his hands to his chest. "I feel like I haven't seen him in a while. He's been so busy with getting ready we haven't even been able to get a good fu-"

"Stop, now." Sasuke growled in his deep voice.

"You can be so mean sometimes." Kakashi sighed, then glanced at the clock remembering that he had 'teacher' things to do. "You should go to your lockers now. When I call your name come get your locker number and combination." He made his way down the list.

Sasuke and Naruto walked down the hall to their lockers, Naruto glaring at his locker card, "More fuckin salmon! It's not like we even need these cards really, we've had the same lockers since last year."

Sasuke smirked at his friend's rant about his hatred of the color salmon. He knew it would only be worse when they reached their lockers. He stepped up to his, giving a far from warming look to the odd, faded, teal-green color. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure if it was even faded, it just looked it. It was that nasty of a color. But at least they weren't the dark reddish-salmon lockers. Salmon. The school administrators had a salmon fetish. Ew, fetish. That brought bad 'school admins having sex' images into his mind. He opened his lockers grabbing the stuff he needed for his second period class (they didn't go to first period on the first day of school) then closed it. He glanced to both sides, Naruto was at his right, and an unknown person was at his left, as no one was there. Whoever the unknown person was had some nasty shit on their locker, it looked like semen(3). 'Someone was happy to be back in school.' he thought with a smirk.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme! We need to go back." Naruto said grabbing Sasuke's hand and dragging him. Sasuke sighed, wondering why he'd ever taught Naruto Japanese, now the blonde used it to insult him. Then a girl squealed behind him, Sasuke groaned. He knew that squeal, he heard it a lot, it was the squeal of a girl who was somewhere between a, er, _friend_ and an enemy. Also the squeal of a girl who was taking a peek at his boxers that were always hanging out of his loosely tight pants. Yes, loosely tight, kind of like that eighties song "Hold On Loosely", they were loose, because they were always falling off his hips, but somewhat tight around his legs. Nearly impossible to explain. Back to the girl, Sakura, who had come up behind him and tweaked his boxers- WHAT?!

"Sakura! What are you doing?" He yanked out of Naruto's grasp, turning to face the girl. Her pink hair was partly back in a clip, one section on each side left out of it to frame her face. She was smiling all the way to he green eyes. She advanced on Sasuke a step, pushing herself towards him, Sasuke glanced down to see her cleavage throughly hanging out of her red shirt, well that's against the dress code. "Sakura, fucking leave me alone."

"But Sasuke," she whined, "I haven't seen you all summer! I want to talk to you."

"Next time you want to talk to me don't grab my boxers," he answered darkly.

"That's hard to do, I mean, they're there. And blue is such a nice color on you." she smiled closing her eyes, which caused her to miss Sasuke hurrying back to class with Naruto.

"You know, if you were straight, you would never be lonely." Naruto said as they entered Kakashi's classroom.

"Yeah but I'm not, and I can't stand girls." Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto who was shaking his head.

"Yeah but when's the last time you had a boyfriend?" Naruto watched Sasuke pause. It had been a while, too long. Long enough to force him into certain activities with Genma to relieve the tension, but he'd rather not think about that. Naruto smirked as Sasuke threw his powerful death-glare, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Second period was History with, Kakashi's boyfriend, Iruka Umino. They entered the class and he welcomed them to their first day of school. "This year we'll be doing world history. Actually, this year is Asian history. One of my favorite subjects, and definitely one of the least boring." He went on to tell them what supplies they would need that he forgot to put on the original supply list, the course overview, and all of those boring, first-day-of-school things.

They entered Kakashi's classroom for the second time in what felt like not enough time. He stood up and moved to the front of the room, something he didn't do often. "I've had you all for four years. You already know how it works. I'm not old, so don't call me Mr. Hatake. It's Kakashi. At this point of class there's not a lot of vocabulary, it's mostly culture. I'll give you the notes, give you the work, you study, and take the test. If you choose to go, there's a trip to France in February. We start planning for that immediately." He sighed, looking at the clock. Not even ten minutes into class. "I can't very well teach you anything today. Speaking exercises, find a partner and introduce yourselves."

"Bonjour. Je m'apelle Naruto. Comment t'apelle tu?" (Hello. My name is Naruto. What is your name?) Naruto said easily.

"Je m'apelle Sasuke. Ca va, coup?" (My name is Sasuke. How are you, fuck?) the raven smirked.(4)

"Comme ci, comme ca salaud." (So, so bastard.)

"Sasuke, Naruto, I know what you're saying." Kakashi said, a grin evident in his voice.

"I know you know what we're saying Kakashi. I don't care. You're not going to do anything about it." Sasuke answered. Kakashi sighed and returned to his book, giving them more time to finish. More time that they didn't need, that is.

"Hey! We still have the same group! D' accord homme!" (Alright man!) Sasuke and Naruto turned to the table next to them. A shaggy brunette, Kiba, was sitting next to a ponytailed raven lazing back in his chair, Shikamaru.

"Kiba! Long time no see!" Naruto yelled unnecessarily. They were right freaking next to them. Sasuke sighed, he had nothing against Kiba really, they were more or less friends, but he could be just as loud as Naruto. Shikamaru was great though, despite the fact that he spent all his time staring at the ceiling, but he was quiet. He was a genious too, a lazy one, but he always knew what was going on. He was the first person to figure out Sasuke was gay actually.

Kakashi called for the class's attention. They were a half hour into class, he'd done enough teaching right? "I can't do anything else with you, do whatever." He immersed himself into his book.

Naruto glanced at him, "Hey, Sasuke," he said, "You know that book Kakashi always has? What's with that?"

"It's porn, Icha Icha Paradise, a yaoi series from Japan." Sasuke answered.

Naruto blinked at yaoi, but that only made sense. A gay man would read gay porn right? Still, it was a bit unnerving that his teacher was reading porn in school. Sasuke meanwhile, wondered why it had taken Naruto four years to actually ask about it. Of course Sasuke would know though, he lived with Kakashi. Both boys were ripped from their thoughts by Kiba pulling a chair up to their table. "Kakashi is still as lazy an ass as ever, huh?"

"He'll never change." Sasuke said, flicking his eyes to their perverted, lazy, teacher.

"Hey, Kiba, do you know what he's reading?" Naruto asked in an excited voice.

"Yeah, porn. Shikamaru figured it out the first day we had him and told me. You have no idea how much it sucks to get a nosebleed on the first day of school..." he trailed off with a sort of resentful look.

"That was your own fault." Shikamaru said suddenly, his eyes were closed and he was still leaning back with his hands behind his head. Kiba glared at him for a bried moment, then the glare faded, and Sasuke noticed his gaze linger for just a moment longer than was necessary.

Fourth period brought Photography with A. Sarutobi. As they sat down at the tables in the room (which was also the Tech room) Mr. Sarutobi leaned against his desk, unlit cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Sasuke felt somewhat relieved, he knew Mr. Sarutobi, and he wasn't bad really. He wasn't crazy like most of the other teachers, not completely crazy anyway. Teaching at Konoha automatically made you at least a little crazy.

"Welcome to Photography. The objective of this class is pretty obvious, you take pictures. Some assignments will require you to take pictures of certain things, or photoship pictures in certain ways. But the majority of the pictures you take in this class will be whateve you want to take. Which is why all the lazy kids choose Photography." He threw a glance at Shikamaru. They already knew each other as Mr. Sarutobi was a friend of the family.

"Are you calling all of us lazy?" Naruto shouted.

"No, I'm just saying that all the lazy kids in your grade are probably in this class." Asuma said. Naruto glanced around, Shikamaru, Tiffany... The two laziest kids in the grade were in this class, yep.(5)

"Asuma," Shikamaru drawled, calling the teacher by his first name, "Should you have a cigarette in here?"

"I don't see why not, it ain't lit." He said, talking around said cigarette.

"So troublesome," he said, giving up the argument.

"Damn lazy kid." Asuma said. He always had a cigarette in his mouth, lit or unlit. He got away with it too as long as he hid it when the principle was around and his students didn't go out and tell on him. Which they didn't. "Right well, I have nothing left to do with you other than let you pick shelves. Do that and we're done. But don't leave the room." He walked back over to his desk and sat down in front of the computer.

Fifth period was Phys. Ed. with G. Maito. Sasuke and Naruto very reluctantly made their way to the gym, not looking forward to class with Gai. Naruto had to physically force Sasuke through the door, pressing his body against Sasuke's. "Oh, Naruto, is that an offer?"

"No, pervert." Naruto grumbled. Some people would be bothered if they were a straight guy with a gay best friend who had a habit of making "advances" on them. But Naruto was okay with it, he knew Sasuke didn't like him that way so it was fine.

They entered the gym and saw a tall figure with green shorts and a green shirt, Gai. "Hello, my youthful students! I am glad to see I have all of you in my class once again!" he said as soon as everyone was seated on the beachers that were partly pulled out. Sasuke glanced down the row and saw that very few people looked excited to be there. Shikamaru was lazing back, Kiba was next to him in a conversation with Shino Aburame, one-sided conversation mind you, Shino wasn't much of a talker. Sasuke himself was leaning against the back of the bleachers with his arms crossed, Naruto lying on the bleacher next to his foot. Continuing to search the line of students, Sasuke froze, for on the bottom bleacher, standing right in front of the ranting Gai ("Ah! The beauty of your youthful energy!") was Lee Rock. Was this a joke? The junior was like a mini-Gai, not to mention a junior. Sasuke also saw Neji Hyuuga and TenTen sitting just behind him. So they had a mixed gym-class of Sophomores and Juniors.

"Alright my students! Come get your locker combinations and numbers!" Gai said enthusiastically, brandishing a clipboard, and losing papers in the process.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, waiting for his and Naruto's name to be called. Once it was, they went up to get their combos, then went through the side-door of the gym and into the locker room. He and Naruto had lockers right next to each other, allowing them to be able to talk while they uh, figured out how to open their lockers (Actually, they just sort of talked). "We have Gai and Lee in the same class, can't you just feel the youth?" Naruto said sarcastically.

"Look at it this way, that'll be nothing compared to Genma. But that's probably not a very good thought." Sasuke said, speaking pure truth.

"You've always sucked at being cheery. You're so emo all the time." Naruto grinned, wincing slightly when Sasuke punched him.

"Don't call me emo."

"Hey Sasuke, Naruto!" Kiba's voice yelled, "What's taking you? Sasuke, are you molesting Naruto?"

"Damn Kiba, I was just getting his pants off." Sasuke said flatly as Kiba rounded the corner to see them.

"Just gotta be sure, ya know?" He walked back out, Sasuke and Naruto following.

After escaping the enthusiastic horror that was gym-class (Gai had asked them to run laps the first day) they went to lunch. Easily the easiest part of the day. Sasuke and Naruto took a seat at the black booth under the New York State map showing where all of last year's graduates had gone. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Shino came in a moment later, followed by Chouji Akimichi. The group had established this as their table last year. Old habits die hard, right?

"Anybody know what's for lunch today?" Naruto asked.

"Pizza!" Chouji answered with an air punch. Everyone else made grossed-out faces, Kiba and Naruto very loudly so. The school's pizza could very easily be put on a list of "Unedible substances." Grease, gross sauce and cheese, and soggy crust made up the horrible food. The last time Sasuke had actually bought it (in seventh grade) he'd dropped his napkins on it, all of them were immediately soaked right through(6). Since then, he hadn't even bought it, let alone eaten it.

Nonetheless they all got up and crossed the cafeteria to get in the lunch-line. However Chouji was the only one that got the pizza, the rest of them got bagels. There go-to lunch choice since seventh grade, man they were sticklers for old habits. Chouji immediately began wolfing down his pizza, getting his chubby face covered in grease. "And you wonder why girls don't like you." Shikamaru said, throwing a glance to the large oval table next to theirs where Sakura and her friends sat. Apparently, the boy's table and the girl's table next to theirs were the "cool tables." Glancing around at his friends he wondered how on earth that was possible. Sure they were great soccer-players and everything, which automatically equaled something akin of royalty at Konoha, but Sasuke was the only sort of "cool" one among them. The rest of them acted like complete losers all the time. "So troublesome." The rest of the guys looked at him wierd.

Sasuke took a deep breath as he walked down the halls to room eighty-five. He was very close to turning around and going to Kakashi's room to avoid this class, very close indeed. Naruto didn't completely understand Sasuke's issue, yeah he knew Genma was... eccentric, but he'd never seemed _that_ bad. Then again, Naruto didn't see Genma nearly as much. Kakashi and Genma were best friends, Sasuke probably saw a lot of him. And in an environment where he _had_ to talk about sex, it wasn't safe. It just wasn't safe. Nonetheless, he entered the classroom and went to sit down at a table but- "SASUKE!" something larger than him became attached to his back.

"Fuck, Genma!" he shouted attempting to push the man off.

"Mmm, is that an offer?"

"No!" he finally got Genma off of him. He turned to face the man. He was grinning through the toothpick sticking out of his mouth, a black bandana tied around his head, uneffectively holding back his long brown hair. Really, he was an attractive man, Sasuke would probably think he were hot if he weren't so God damn annoying.

"You're so mean sometimes Sasuke, I haven't seen you in a long time." the man pouted, quite well considering the toothpick and the fact that he was in his twenties. "I was just trying to greet one of the hottest men I know."

"What would Raidou say?"

"Oh he knows he's still the hottest man I know. You're just up there, ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke said, walking to sit at the desk next to Naruto.

"Welcome to Health!" Genma said enthusiastically, "This year we'll be learning about sex, that wonderful thing that keeps the world running." he had a fondness in his voice.

"Nympho." Sasuke mumbled.

Genma went on, "If you're sensitive to the subject you might as well leave my classroom right now because I won't go easy on you." he scanned the room watching for someone to leave. They never did the first class, give them a while though and he would lose a couple students. Usually about then he started talking about the hot sex he had with his boyfriend. He continued, "So, you all know what sex is obviously. When a man and a woman have it, it usually makes kids, if you're into people of the opposite sex like that." he made a face of distaste. "Sex is also your gender, male or female. Yeah, that's pretty much the only two definitions, but you've already covered that. This year we go really indepth." There was a glint in his eye that seeped perversion.

"Genma if you start scaring your students I'm telling Raidou." Sasuke said giving Genma a serious look.

Genma stopped, eyes widening. He always either had "fun" with Raidou, or Raidou ruined his fun, that man had no middleground. He would most certainly make him lighten up if Sasuke told him. "Alright you scheming little brat."

The next ten minutes of class was spent with Genma talking on and on about how great sex was. Sasuke was about ready to kill him, especially when he started to mention him, "When you don't get enough sex, you'll get moody, and jealous of people that _are_ getting some, like Sasuke here."

"Genma!"

"Sorry Sasuke, you know I love you." Genma went over to Sasuke and hugged him, but was pushed away when he pinched the teen's ass.

Needles to say, Sasuke was very happy when the final bell rang and he could leave class. Sophomore year at Konoha Junior Seniour High promised to be very interesting indeed.

* * *

((1- Thousand Years of Pain... (Or pleasure, if you're Iruka.) .

2- If I could just describe to you how much I loathe the salmon passes... I have about twenty of them laying hidden around my bedroom (I don't throw out passes... We do not ask why.), but I loathe them. My school has horrible taste in color.

3- True story man. Me and my friends were wandering the halls- er, doing what we were supposed to do, during Study Lab, one of my friends stops in the bathroom. We stand outside playing with the lockers, and one of them has something on it. We're all like, "What is that?!" Then I noticed how much it looked like semen... As soon as I started writing the locker scene I knew I needed to incorporate that.

I should explain the A, B, C... thing: At my school,we have different schedules for different days (as I'm sure most schools do. And most schools probably have a smilar schedule to ours.) It goes through F, and depending on which day it is, that affects which classes you have. I for instance have Art and Study Lab on A, C, and E days. But Homos and Queers (Er, sorry, home and careers) and Health on B, D, and F days. Just to clear that up for anyone that might not have that kind of schedule.

4- No, my teacher did not teach me to swear, me and my friend figured it out on our own. There's actually a thousand ways to say fuck though... Also, if you're a fluent French speaker, and my words are off, I apologize, I'm using an internet translator and they aren't always very reliable. And I'm not spelling things wrong on purpose, I have no way to put accents on the letters in wordpad.

5- For the record, I have every intention of taking Photography... WHy? Because, despite the fact that I don't know how easy it is, it really is a do whatever you want class. And I'm lazy... Doing what I want to do works for me. So, that's where the "lazy kids take Photography" statement comes from.

6- No lie. That's what my school's pizza is like. My friends and I have actually put napkins on it to see how bad it is... Grossness.


	2. Let's PLay DressUp

**Next chapter! Woot! Sorry it took so long. After all that time, finishing it up only took like, not that long. .**

**Disclaimer: All I own is my managa and hitai- ate. But Masashi Kishimoto, he has freaking everything! -.-**

* * *

Naruto walked into first period math with Mr. Morino, one of the teachers that actually made you call him by his last name. The warning bell had just rung and he had plenty of time to talk to Sasuke, but when he walked in he saw Sasuke in a wierd predicament indeed. Sakura, Ino,and Temari were surrounding him, dressing him up. He had two blue bow clips in his hair, a black beaded necklace, and the collar of his dark blue polo was popped. He looked ridiculous.

"He would look so unbelievably hot with a bit of eye liner!" Sakura squeeled, whipping eyeliner seemingly out of nowhere and popping off the top.

"Hm, the necklace looks lonely without bracelets." Temari said slipping her beaded black bracelets off. A moment later the girls stepped back admiring their work.

Kiba walked in behind Naruto, the two exchanged a look and burst out laughing. "Sasuke, why the hell did you let them do that to you?" Naruto yelled, keeling over while clutching his stomach. He looked frickin ridiculous!

"Not a fucking word Uzumaki." the raven growled dangerously, sending out death-rays with his eyes. He moved to take the bows out of his hair but was stopped by squealing girls.

"Don't you dare Sasuke! We worked too hard making you pretty for you to ruin it." Ino said swatting his hand away when he attempted to remove more jewelery.

"Why would I want to look pretty?"

"Then a hot guy will want you." Temari said.

Sasuke almost liked them better when they all still thought he was straight and wanted him. Now they insisted on going shopping with him, dressing him up, and trying to hook him up with every guy they knew. It was frustrating to say the least. "Any guys in mind?"

"Well, you know, I do know someone that's a guy." Temari said with a smirk. "He's sort of your type too, broody, not too talkative."

"A description that fits one other person in this grade, and a junior." Ino grinned.

"Oh, I think you know which one I'm talking about."

Sasuke glared at the two blondes, "If you're talking about your brother..." He trailed off.

Temari smiled sweetly at him, "Of course!" Sasuke gave her a doubting look, "Come on Sasuke, he's an attractive gay guy. He sort of likes you, and you two have a lot in common."

"That being what?"

"You both hate everything!" she waved her hands through the air to emphasize her point, "Come on Sasuke, give him a chance. He's been asking about you for a while."

"You guys are hopeless." Naruto said, Kiba still laughing.

Sasuke glanced around the room, Gaara was sitting on the other side. He was pretty hot, there was no way around that. But he was also creepy as shit, no way around that either. As he was still staring, Gaara glanced over at him. His invisible eyebrow rose just barely at Sasuke's attire, but other than that he showed nothing. "So what do you think Sasuke? He's quite a looker after all!" Pale blue eyes were in Sasuke's face.

"Shove off, Ino!" he growled pushing her away, "Alright, I'll give him a chance. Since you three won't leave me alone until you see some action between two guys."

"It's not that Sasuke!" Ino lied horribly, "We just think that if you're with someone you'll be less emo all the time. And since Gaara is suffering from emoness too, you're perfect!"

"Stop calling me emo." Sasuke said, then Mr. Morino walked into the class. He walked to his desk, glancing at Sasuke and muttering something about "Kakashi," and "Cross-dresser."

"I heard that Ibiki." Sasuke said, shooting a glare at his Math teacher.

"I know," the tall, scarred man replied, "And that's Mr. Morino to you. No first names! I expect respect, unlike all those other lazy asses that call themselves teachers."

"He's insulting them, and he's swearing in class?" Sakura gave a look to Ino.

"Quiet down class!" he said. "TIme to start your tenth-grade year of Math." He proceeded to go into a long-winded explanation of what they would be learning about, and how difficult all the exams would be. Ensuring them that a majority of them would find themselves in summer school by the looks of it.

"He sounds tough," Naruto said with wide eyes as they walked down the hall to History.

"Che, Ibiki loves sounding tough. He believes you need to be strong to make it in the real world. He tries to scare his students as much as possible and whoever doesn't get completely freaked gets better grades." Sasuke explained. "He's just crazy, like every other teacher in this school."

"Yeah, they need to stop that." Kiba muttered.

"Study lab with Genma," Sasuke said as he walked to the Cafeteria with Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. "Fuck. Shit. Up."(1) He pushed open the door, walking over to the usual lunch table. He had completely forgotten that he was still cross-dressed. Though how he had is a complete mystery.

"Sasuke! I have you aga-What are you wearing?" Genma said, stopping mid-glomp. He stared curiously at the eyeliner and jewelery. "I mean, the collar is one thing. It's actually sort of hot. But the make-up, taking it way too far."

"Shut up Genma," Sasuke muttered, tearing off the bracelets and necklace, almost breaking them in the process. Good thing he didn't, Temari would have been severely unhappy. He went to rub the make-up off his eyes but Shikamaru stopped him.

"If you do that you'll only end up looking like Gaara." he said, flicking a glance across the cafeteria to where Gaara was sitting.

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Sasuke asked warily.

"Just common sense, don't be so troublesome about it."

"Speaking of Gaara though..." Naruto trailed off.

"Don't remind me," Sasuke mumbled.

"What?" Genma asked, shoving Shikamaru over so he could squeeze into the seat across from Sasuke.

"Nothing Genma!"

"Temari, Ino, and Sakura want to hook Sasuke up with Gaara." Naruto said, grinning when Sasuke glared at him.

"What's wong with him? I seem to remember you saying you kind of liked him. He's not half bad once you get past the super raccoon eyes." Genma stared over at Gaara.

"Panda-chan." Sasuke muttered, ignoring the odd look Naruto gave him as he watched Gaara. His eyes widened when he saw Temari and Ino talking to him, then grabbing him and forcing him to walk in Sasuke's direction. Were they really going to do that now?

"Sasuke," Ino called, "Gaara wants to talk to you." Yes they were.

Gaara stared cooly at Sasuke, not that his face ever really betrayed any emotion.(2) "Somehow I doubt that Ino." Sasuke said. "Oh by the way, here's your crap Temari." He handed the jewelery and clips back to her."

"Hey! You weren't supposed to take them out." Ino said.

"I looked retarded."

"You looked pretty, don't you think he looked pretty Gaara?"

Gaara turned to her and blinked, slowly. Ino laughed softly, backing away.

"But Gaara likes you Sasuke," Temari said. "He just doesn't want to say that he wants to-"

"Temari." Gaara said in a low, warning voice. "Stop talking."

Sasuke smirked, he had to sympathize for the guy. Those girls were so annoying, and they were always bothering both of them. Maybe Temari was right, maybe they did have a lot in common. But that didn't mean he was going to go out with Panda-chan, yet.

The next day in French Sakura walked into class and cleared her throat, yelling for everyone's attention. "Okay, so this weekend my parents are going out on some trip or other," she waved her hands like that fact was unimportant, "And I get the house to myself. I'm allowed to have a few friends over so... Party at my place! Starts tonight at nine, ends tomorrow whenever!"

"What's the occasion?" Hinata asked.

"We could just say it's a beginning of the school year party. But I don't get why anyone would want to celebrate that."

"Sakura I don't remember giving you permission to use my class time to plan parties." Kakashi said from his desk, not looking up from his book.

"Well you never use it for anything." Ino reminded him.

Kakashi sighed, "Actually, that's true. Carry on."

"Okay so, you're all invited, and I also invited a few of the juniors. Neji, TenTen, and Lee." the pink-haired girl said, taking a seat at her regular table.

"You invited Lee?" Ino asked. Giving her the 'You're-completely-psycho-oh-my-gosh-where-are-your-meds?' look.

"He was right there when I invited TenTen and Neji, and he's not that bad... Sometimes." Sakura sighed in defeat. There was no excuse for inviting the green horror (jr.).

In Physics class, Lee sneezed.

"I don't know if I should go." Sasuke said to Naruto as they made their way to Health, slowly.

"Why not? It sounds like fun!"

"You're going?"

"You bet! All the hottest girls are gonna be there." Naruto frowned, "But I guess that's not such a pull factor for you."

"Hardly." Sasuke answered dryly.

"But all the hot guys are gonna be there too! And Gaara," he nudged Sasuke suggestively. "Sakura would have plenty of empty rooms."

"Yeah, but you think Sakura and Ino would leave me alone to make out with a guy? Oh no. They'd follow with cameras."

"Ah well," Naruto paused, "You're going!" He set his face determinedly.

"Fine. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Kakashi's having some friends over to drink tonight. I don't want to be with a drunk Genma." he shuddered.

"What about me?" Genma frowned at Sasuke as the teen walked through his classroom.

"Nothing Genma."

The brunette sighed, "Everybody's always like that." He started class.

An hour before the party Sasuke was sitting in his and Kakashi's living room, watching a re-run of Numbers. He didn't even like that show, but the new seasons hadn't started yet so of course he was stuck watching whatever was on. He sighed as he attempted to follow Charlie's complex math problem. Yeah. Right. That guy went from an elf to a freakin genious? I think not.

When the show was halfway through the door burst open, and Genma bursted through dragging Raidou along behind him. "Bring on the beer!" He walked into the Living Room, spotting Sasuke (Who had been trying to get up to his room) and ran over and glomped him. "Sasuke! Long time no see."

"I just saw you earlier today! Why do you have to be so fucking hyper all the time?" the raven said, shrugging Genma violently off.

"See Raidou? I told you he was mean to me!"

"Hm, looks like you deserved it to me." the other man said. He had spiky dark brown hair, and a burn scar running along his left cheek to his nose.

"You're all out to get me." Genma glared at the two. Kakashi walked in, "You are too!"

Kakashi stopped, his mismatched eyes giving them a confused look. "What did I do?"

"You're out to get him." Raiduou informed him, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, of course." Kakashi decided not to ask. Just like he'd decided not to ask whether Genma was on drugs.

"I'm leaving." Sasuke said.

"I'm glad you asked."

"Whatever," Sasuke walked out, but the three could catch a low, "Stupid fucks." Just before he slammed the door behind him. He thought sarcastically, 'Oh how I love them.'

* * *

**((1- Okay, I just need to explain this phrase. Fuck shit up, well, I usually say it when I get mad about something. Therefore, Sasuke says it when he gets mad about something. That's not really what the phrase means, but whatevs.**

**2- Gaara's still going to be more or less emotionless. But he might be just a bit more emotional than he is in the series. Real people aren't like that all the time.**

**Ah, I'm sorry about the quality of this chapter. It's short, and it's all voer the place. I'm wokring on it, I just suck at working up to the plot. Reviews and con-crit (Constructive criticism) are not only welcome, but needed! You see, if you feed the author, she writes faster. .  
Oh by the way: I'm starting a new fic! . I got the idea, and it's been bugging me since a couple hours ago when I came up with it. **


	3. Hookups and Freak Shows

Sasuke walked down the hallway intending on going to his locker, then he saw a head of spiky red hair. He grinned slightly, walking over. "Hey," he muttered, leaning against the locker next to Gaara's.

Gaara turned to him, "Hey." Wow, Sasuke really knew how to get Gaara to talk.

"Sasuke, that's my locker." Kankurou said giving Sasuke a glare.

"Deal with it Kankurou," Gaara said icily to his brother.

"He's nicer to you than his own family!"

"Because Gaara really likes him, duh." Temari said from the other side of Gaara's locker. "You have to be nice to your boyfriend."

oo0oo0Flashback0oo0oo

"Sasuke, what's up with you and Gaara?" Sakura said, sitting next to Sasuke.

"Nothing."

"That's the problem! Why haven't you two hooked up yet?"

"What do you want me to do? Go over there and jump him?"

"That would be interesting to watch," Sakura mused, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "But if you don't do something soon I'm going to interfere. And I won't be subtle about it."

Sasuke stood up sighing, what did he do to deserve those girls? Reluctantly he walked over to Gaara. "Gaara," he said casually.

"Sasuke." the redhead answered without looking at him. (1)

"I've been wanting to talk to you for a while."

"I like you, Sasuke." Not really one to beat around the bush apparently.

"I like you too." Sasuke said, slightly startled, but most definitely not showing it. He leaned down and kissed Gaara lightly on the lip. The other teen's eyes widened just barely. But it was really something to draw any sort of reaction. Across the room Sakura, Ino, and Temari squealed.

oo0oo0End0oo0oo

"Uchiha, move it." Kankurou said. Sasuke stepped to the side, choosing instead to sort of pin Gaara to his locker and kiss him before he needed to go to class.

"See ya." He walked to his locker where Naruto was waiting.

"Are you gonna be kissing him all over the place now?" Naruto asked, "'Cause I really don't need to see that kind of stuff. Virgin eyes!"

"Relax loser, I'll get you a blindfold." Sasuke smirked.

They were sitting in Math class a minute before the bell when someone they didn't recognise came in. A teenager with long silver hair pulled back in a low ponytail walked over and sat in a desk near them. "Hello, I'm Kabuto Yakushi." he said, smiling at them. His round glasses glinted in the light.

Sakura and Ino exchanged glances, new cute guy. "Hi, Kabuto! I'm Sakura Haruno." the green-eyed girl said.

"And I'm Ino Yamanaka!" the blonde cut in, giving the new student a flirting smile. "So, you're new? Where are you from?"

"Oto" he replied easily. "A teacher from my school came too. Mr. Sannin."(3)

"What will he be teaching?" Sasuke asked, he couldn't think of any teaching positions that the man would take.

"Biology."

"What about Anko?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke frowned, "I think Kakashi said something about her changing positions. Mr. Morino walked in then and started class.

They were in Biology near the end of the day and waiting for their teacher. "Hope he's not crazy." Kiba muttered.

"Can't be crazier than Anko." Sasuke said. Remembering back to the first day of school when she'd decided to enter the classroom complete with smoke bombs.

"Hello class."

Sasuke might've been wrong.

Sasuke was wrong.

Sasuke was way fucking off.

This guy had to be out of his head.

The man that walked in had long black hair, normal enough. But his skin was white as paper, with wierd purple make-up around his yellow eyes.

And that tongue.

How can you have a tongue that long?

"I'm your teacher, Mr. Sannin. I'll be taking the spot as Biology teacher over from dear Anko for the rest of the year. " 'Dear Anko?'

"This guy's a freak." Kiba muttered under his breath.

Mr. Sannin's head snapped in Kiba's direction, "What was that Mr. Inuzuka?"

"I didn't say anything." Kiba retorted.

The man glared slightly but continued, "Very well. We'll be starting with the systems of the body then."

"But we were doing cells, we're nowhere near that yet!" Sakura said.

"Well, things will be changing."

The group was walking to Study Lab. "He's a freak." Naruto said with wide eyes, "A complete freak."

"I know! I want him gone!" Kiba yelled, "The last thing I ever want to hear is freaky Snake Man talking about the reproductive system."

"Freaky Snake Man?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"He looks like a freakin' snake! Especially that tongue," Kiba shuddered.

"Gah! I don't want to learn about penises and semen from that freak." Naruto said closing the cafeteria door.

"What are you talking about?" Genma said, having ran over to them as soon as he heard 'penises.'

"Our new Bio teacher." Sasuke replied.

"Oh shit, I met him earlier. Even I wouldn't hit that." Genma made a look of disgust around his toothpick.

"He was checking Sasuke out." Naruto put in.

"What?" Sasuke's head snapped to the blonde. "You're kidding, right?"

"I shit you not, when you got up he totally checked out your ass. I had to stop myself from yelling at him to back off my bitch." Naruto grinned.

"You sure you're not gay?" Kiba said edging slightly away from Naruto.

"Shut up, Kiba."

* * *

**((1- Gaara calls Sasuke by his first name in this one. Cause he likes him.**

**2- Oto is Sound. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I got it from Wikipedia.**

**3- Am I the only one that thinks that sounds funny?**

**Dundundun! It's Orochimaru and Kabuto! The fact that Orochimaru took Anko's spot is pure coincidence. I didn't realize until after I'd written it that ANko used to be one of Orochimaru's people and all that...**

**Crap this one's short. I just couldn't think of anything. This chapter was just there to get the story somewhere. I hate how it turned out though...**


	4. The Joys of Being Crazy

'Why did I let them talk me into this?' Sasuke asked himself as he walked to his locker, dressed in a pair of black plaid pajama pants. It was Homecoming week, and every day had a sepcial dress-up theme. Monday was pajama day. Now, Sasuke didn't actually own a pair of pajamas, he preferred to sleep in boxers really. But a bunch of guys from the team (mainly Kiba and Naruto) had forced him into dressing up every day this week. Therefore they'd all gone shopping on Saturday in order to get everything. Oh the joys of Homecoming at Konoha.

"Yeah Sasuke!" Kiba said running up to him wearing oh-so sexy pajamas with pictures of dogs playing soccer on them. He was crazy alright. "I still think you should have gone with those rainbow ones. Gay pride, ya know?"

"Shut up, Kiba." Poor Kiba, everyone always said that.

"I'm still amazed that you didn't have any pajamas." Naruto said, wearing black pajamas with the Pokemon Ninetail on them. He was shocked to know that they even made Pokemon pajamas. But so happy when he realized his pajamas owned all.

"I prefer to sleep in the nude." Sasuke smirked.

"TMI man, TMI." Kiba said.

The three guys walked into class, Naruto and Kiba randomly bursting into a chorus of,

"When you leave my screen it fades to grey

Turned it on today, now my data's gone away."

"Why do you guys have to be such morons?" Sasuke shook his head, attempting to distance himself from the two.

"Because it's fun." Kiba replied.

The second day of Homecoming week brought Wacky Wear Day. Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino, and Chouji had all gotten together to put together outfits.

Sasuke was wearing a polka-dot shirt, big baggy gangsta style pants- that were striped, and fluffy orange slippers. Why oh why was he doing this? Then again, compared to Naruto and Kiba, he looked fine. Naruto was wearing a tye-dye shirt with three ties of random colors and design. He wore a pair of pink drainpipes- we do not ask why- with Looney Toons swimming trunks over them. Kiba was dressed in similar clashying fashion. Hell, the whole school was one big eyesore. Except for a small group of people containing girls wearing Hollister and flip-flops. Damn them.

Wednesday was much more tolerable. Dress-up day. All the guys on the varsity soccer team had decided on green ties. To incorporate some school spirit into it. Some of the girls, including Sakura and Ino, had gone all out and gotten actual gowns. Sakura had to sit in the little desk chairs in a huge pink glittering mess.

Genma was late for Health that day. Sasuke assumed he was off trying to get Raidou for a quickie. In school. Yeah, that would be like Genma. But of course, Naruto and Kiba had to entertain themselves.

"Penis," Kiba said softly.

"Penis," Naruto said a little louder.

"Penis." louder.

"Penis." louder still.

"Penis."

"Penis."

"Penis!"

"Penis!!" they continued, getting louder until they were shouting.

"PENIS!"

"PENIS!"

"PENIS!!"

**"PENIS!" **Naruto bellowed loud enough to be heard near the auditorium halfway across the school.

Genma sprinted into the room, "Where?"

Naruto blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Genma, stop being so perverted." Raidou said walking into the classroom.

"What's our English teacher doing here?" Kiba nudged Sasuke.

"He's Genma's boyfriend." After Kiba gave him a horrified look that clearly said, 'Oh shit! Is Genma gonna start giving demonstrations?' he added, "He's also the only person who can make Genma be sort of normal. Like a babysitter. A babysitter that Genma fucks every night."

"So, with him here it will be better?"

"Probably." Sasuke said as Genma attempted to start class. The thing was with Raidou there he couldn't teach how he usually did without getting something chucked at his head.

"Ah, fuck it." Genma said, and went around handing out worksheets.

"Genma, you can't swear in front of your students." Raidou scolded.

"Yeah Genma, virgin ears." Sasuke said, ignoring the scowl Genma shot at him.

Thursday was Hic Day. The gang was walking through school decked out in Carharts, overalls, flannel shirts and the like. Ino and Sakura were trying to go for the short-shorts Daisy Duke look. And figures they don't get dress-coded. They walked into Social Studies to see Iruka on the phone. He was speaking sternly with whoever was on the other end. "No, not now. I have a class." he hung up.

"Kakashi trying to get you for a quickie?" Sasuke asked the pony-tailed teacher with a smirk.

Iruka said nothing, just giving Sasuke a disapproving look with pink-tinged cheeks. He proceeded to start class.

But Kakashi was feeling persistent that day. "But Dolphin-chan it'll just be a quick one. Please I'm horny." the silver-haired man begged into the reciever of his portable phone that he'd bought for himself. "What do you mean I'm irresponsible? I'm hurt." he spoke with a pouting voice but he was grinnning like mad through his mask. "Please-" he stared at the phone before shutting it off with a sigh.

Sasuke sat at his usual table at the back of the room watching Gaara walk in. They'd barely talked lately. And they certainly hadn't gone out. When they did go out, it was always awkward except for when they were making out. The relationship was just sort of dieing, and they were letting it. The girls had said he'd had a lot in common with Gaara, but maybe too much.

Meanwhile Naruto was next to Sasuke having his own thoughts about Gaara. Sasuke had told him nothing about his relationship with Gaara. As far as he knew they were going out all the time and maybe even having hot sex by now. He didn't like the idea. He kept thinking how bad Gaara was for Sasuke. Then he berated himself because it made him sound jealous. But there was nothing to be jealous of, right? It was Sasuke, he couldn't be jealous. Sasuke was his best friend, Naruto was completely straight. Sort of. Well, he had a sort of bi-curious streak that he'd never told anyone about. But that did **not** mean he liked Sasuke. He didn't like guys at all, right? Of course not! He was a pussy guy through and through! Naruto started looking physically confused. But he refused to think that he liked guys, because he **didn't.**

"Naruto, you alright?" Sasuke asked raising a brow.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Naruto asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Uh, no reason." Sasuke lied through his teeth, you smile in your sleep, you smile in your sleep ... Sasuke shook his head attempting to get himself back on track as one of his favorite Silverstein songs played in his mind.

Naruto shook his head, he wasn't jealous and that was final. He just knew there were better guys for Sasuke than Gaara, but not him.

Kiba and Shikamaru walked into class, both dressed in true hic class. Shikamaru had been too lazy to resist the forcing. Kiba however pulled the look off quite nicely. He lived on a farm after-all, a potato farm, with lots of dogs. And he already had the clothes. Even the ugly green John Deere hat (1). Shikamaru sat in his desk and fell asleep.

Kiba walked over to Naruto and Sasuke looking moody. He plopped down on a chair.

"What's up with you Kiba?" Naruto asked from under his orange Nascar hat.

"Nothing." Kiba said. That was an interesting "nothing" look.

"Liar."

Kiba threw a glance at Shikamaru before looking back. "Do I look like I'm lieing?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact Inuzuka, you do." Sasuke said. "By any chance, are you gay?"

Kiba spluttered, "What?! God no!"

"I find that hard to believe. My gaydar has never lied before. I don't think it's broken."

"Sasuke, do I look gay to you?"

Sasuke stared hard at Kiba, as if inspecting for some sort of aura around the teen. "No. Not right now. But I've seen you check out Shikamaru." Ah, never misses a beat that Sasuke.

"No I didn't! I ain't gay, damn it!" Kiba yelled.

"You sure about that?" Shikamaru said from the other table without even lifting his head up.

"Not you too." the brunette groaned.

"I don't get it." Naruto frowned.

"Straight guys never do." Shikamaru said again. His pony-tailed head still on the table.

"And yet you do."

"Shikamaru's not straight." Sasuke said, almost laughingly.

"What?!" Naruto and Kiba yelled in unison.

"Girls are troublesome. Did you not get that?" Shikamaru was finally looking at the group.

"Er, no." Kiba said sheepishly.

"See, now you two can be gay together." Sasuke smirked.

"Except for the part where I'm not gay."

Shikamaru walked over and sat on Kiba's lap. The brunette gulped, attempting to fight back the blush that stained his face anyway. "Yes you are."

"Kay, now get off!" Kiba yelled.

"Did he make you hard?" Naruto teased.

"Uzumaki if you know what's good for you you'll shut up." Kiba growled very dog-like.

Sasuke turned to Shikamaru, "You like him."

The lazy teen nodded, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head.

"Go out with him."

A few tables over Sakura and Ino watched with mild shock. Shikamaru liked Kiba, Kiba obviously liked Shikamaru. ANd it was only a matter of time before they hooked up.

"Temari's gonna be pissed."

(1- oh gods, picture Kiba in a john Deere hat. Oddly enough a lot of people at my school wear John Deere hats on a regular basis. (And yes, I know a kid who's family has a potato farm)

The joys of French class. It;s fun to beign with, you add in a lazy teacher it's a party. Which makes me sad. 'Cause my totally awesome French teacher (Who has been affectionately dubbed a million different names by his loving students. Who yell at him and slap him. .) isn't teaching Francais next year. He's teaching Histoire (Social Studies). My friend started crying, then I started crying, then Monsieur Francais almost started crying. Very emotional. -tear- I don't think I'll do French next year.


	5. Homecoming Lovin

Konoha won their Homecoming game, they completely crushed. It was 4-1 against Oto. Of course by the end of the game things started getting pretty violent. Shino had to sit out of the game after a kick to the head (Not quite sure how that one was managed). So they won, but not without a fight and a struggle. And a lot of mud since it had rained earlier in the day.

When they passed in lines for the traditional "good game" and high five Sasuke couldn't help but notice that some Oto players seemed to be trying to take them down with their high fives. One of the larger players who had the name 'Frequency' on his jersey (Sasuke assumed this was a nickname) gave him a particularly evil glare as he walked by (1). Sasuke just continued down theline until he'd done the last kid. After a quick "Good game" talk with Coach Gai they ran off to the locker room to shower and get out of their muddy jerseys. They'd already decided they would make an appearance at the dance, then they were all heading over to Kiba's to party. Just because they could.

xXxXxX

They walked into the dance to the sounds of "Smack That", which Naruto couldn't resist singing along to and walking up to Sasuke and pretending to smack him in the ass.

"Smack that, all on the floor!" he yelled in his obnoxious voice.

"Will you stop that?" Sasuke said angrily.

"Geez Sasuke, let loose it's a dance!" Naruto yelled. The group went to the middle of the floor where they started raving to a random technoish song. Naruto was the most rambunctious of the group. And later, when "I'm In Love With A Stripper" was playing, he could be found grinding Sakura. No one was really sure why as they were friends but he had no attraction to her... Anymore.

"Hey Sasuke," Shino said a while later.

"What?" Sasuke asked, turning to face him in all the noise.

"Gaara's over there dancing with Neji." Shino said blankly.

Sasuke looked behind him to see that Gaara was in fact dancing with Neji. Really close. Like holy shit they were pretty much on top of each other. Sasuke found himself, oddly enough, not the least bit angry. He'd come to realize that he liked someone that was Gaara. So if Gaara liked someone that wasn't him well that was fine. They weren't very happy with each other anyway. It saved him a messy breakup too.

Naruto had also noticed this. He'd taken Sasuke's completely blank face for an upset one. "He's a whore for doing that."

"I don't really care." Sasuke said truthfully.

"You don't care that your boyfriend's dancing with another guy?"

Sasuke shrugged. "It wasn't working out anyway. I was thinking about just ending it."

"Oh." Was Naruto's reply. He couldn't ignore the fact that all of a sudden he felt really happy though. 'What the hell?' he though to himself, 'Why do I care?' Somewhere in his mind another voice answered the question. 'Because it means he's available.' Naruto shook his head. He did _not_ like Sasuke like that. He wasn't even gay... Was he? Okay, so there was a good chance he was bi. But that didn't mean he liked his best friend. No.

The night went on and soon there was only ten one song left of the dance. The group of them yelled and whooped for the next song that came on: "Nothing But Mammals" by The Bloodhound Gang. They'd asked the DJ (Who Chouji knew) to play this as the last song specially for them. During this song Kiba started to dance with Shikamaru, dirty. And oddly enough Shikamaru danced too.

"It's about fucking time!" Naruto yelled. As they'd been sort of avoiding the subject of their feelings for each other since that French class. But now they were dancing and most definitely on the verge of kissing.

Sakura and Ino saw this from a couple yards away and tapped Temari on the shoulder. She automatically got sulky.

xXxXxX

Later the group of Kiba, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Naruto, Shino, Neji, Gaara, and Chouji piled into Kiba's kitchen to dig food out. Kiba had asked his parents not to be home and they had to go somewhere a few hours away for some farm thing anyway so they had free reign of the house.

"Basically, we can do anything except break stuff that my parents would notice... Or get caught." Kiba informed them when they'd sat in the living room with chips, dip, pretzels, pizza, and wings.

Naruto nudged Sasuke and pointed to Gaara, who was sitting right next to Neji. When Sasuke looked over Gaara looked back at him. He stood up and motioned for Sasuke to follow him into the kitchen.

"Did you see me with Neji?" the redhead asked.

"Yeah," Sasuke supplied oh-so-helpfully.

"You're not mad?"

"No. Let's face it, we were pretty much over anyway."

"Yeah. Things were less awkward as friends." Gaara said, then kissed Sasuke lightly on the cheek before walking back into the living room. Sasuke followed him out and sat down next to Naruto.

"Kiba how can you even deny it after tonight?" The blond yelled incredulously.

"I don't know what you're talkin 'bout Uzumaki!" Kiba replied.

"We all saw you, I was surprised you guys didn't just strip and fuck right there!"

Kiba's cheeks were tinged slightly with pink.

"Will you two stop it? It's so troublesome." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah Naruto, stop it!"

"I was talking to you too."

Kiba glared at him. "Aren't you even a little annoyed at their false accusations?"

Shikamaru simply rolled his eyes and laid back.

"Too bad they aren't false." Naruto said with a slight smirk.

Kiba turned away from Naruto, "Who's up for video games?" He asked.

xXxXxX

Later that night when nearly everyone was asleep Kiba was laying awake deep in thought. He knew he wasn't fooling anybody with his denial about his feelings for Shikamaru. At the same time the idea of admitting to it was just too awkward. He turned on his side only to remember that Shikamaru was sleeping next to him. Great. The dark-haired teen was sleeping with his mouth open, almost drooling, and Kiba couldn't get over how cute it was. He nudged the lazy boy.

"Wha?" Shikamaru muttered opening his eyes and looking up. Shockingly enough he wasn't a very heavy sleeper.

"I need to talk to you." Kiba whispered, standing up.

Shikamaru stood up stretching, "It's five, why are you even up?"

"Just come on," Kiba said, walking towards the dark kitchen, he flicked on the lights and blinked against the sudden brightness. Leaning against the counter he looked at Shikamaru who was yawning. "I'm confused."

Rather than questioning Kiba on what the hell he was talking about Shikamaru understood right away. "That much was obvious."

Kiba gave Shikamaru a dark look. "That's not helping."

"This is something you have to figure out for yourself."

They stood in silence for a few moments. Kiba obviously having some sort of internal struggle with himself. He was frowning at the floor, focusing on one particular red Kool-Aid stain. He crossed his arms and frowned deeper and stared more intently at the stain. Then, with the smallest of nods he looked up and walked over to Shikamaru. Muttering, "I've decided," he kissed him lightly on the lips. He pulled back for a second, looking at Shikamaru's dark eyes, then leaned in and kissed him deeper.

xXxXxX

Sasuke and Naruto woke up a couple hours later. They went into the kitchen to find Shikamaru and Kiba kissing passionately, Kiba had the other boy pressed against a wall.

Naruto blinked.

"I KNEW IT!"

* * *

((1- As far as I know, Dosu means frequency.

Right so, that chapter was more about Kiba and Shikamaru, but I assure you, that was just getting some pairings set up. The exposition is over and in the next chapter the real plot starts. I've had the plot planned for ages, I just never got around to writing it with all the problems I had going on.

In other news... I seriously need a beta. -.-;


	6. Old Snakey

Sasuke was in Biology, bent over his homework on the circulatory system. They had only a few minutes left in class and they'd already finished the classwork. He was answering a question about the heart when someone cast a shadow over his paper. He looked up to see Mr. Sannin standing there smiling creepily down at him.

"Hello Sasuke," he said, kneeling down. "I was wondering if you could stay ninth with me today?"

Sasuke thought for a moment. He'd turned in his homework, he hadn't done anything during class. Why did he have to stay ninth? "I think I have other plans."

"You will stay ninth or be written up." the teacher said in his snake-like voice. He stood up and walked back up to his desk. The bell rang.

Sasuke, feeling thoroughly creeped out, went over to Naruto and Kiba the moment they were out of the classroom.

"Dude, what did Old Snakey want with you?" Kiba said, using the nickname they had not-so-affectionately dubbed the Bio teacher with.

"He told me to stay ninth." Sasuke said blankly.

"Uh, why?" Naruto asked raising a brow.

"I have no frickin' clue." Sasuke answered, blunt as ever.

xXxXxX

Later in the afternoon Sasuke entered Mr. Sannin's classroom during ninth. He was horribly dissapointed to see that no one else was in there. He was hoping he at least wouldn't be alone with Old Snakey, but then again no one in their right mind would stay ninth with that guy anyway. Unless they had to.

Mr. Sannin looked up as Sasuke continued to walk in. "Ah hello Sasuke."

Sasuke said nothing. He sat down at a desk and got out a pen, assuming he would have to do some form of work since he was there.

"Oh no, that really won't be necessary." The man said in his slithering voice.

"What am I here to do then?" Sasuke asked, trying not to show any reaction as Mr. Sannin walked over to the desk he was at.

"Just take off your shirt and you'll find out."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

xXxXxX

After ninth as Sasuke was walking out to the buses Naruto ran up to him. "Oi! So, what happened with Old Snakey?"

Sasuke shrugged, "He just had some work he wanted me to do." Well, work was one way to put it.

"Seriously? That's still creepy man. He looks at you like he wants to rape you."

"Whatever Naruto." Sasuke answered. They began shivering as they stepped out into the cold November air. Sasuke headed for his bus and Naruto had to go the other way to walk home.

"See ya Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke said nothing in reply, his hands were shoved in his pockets. As he walked onto the bus he handed his busdriver, June, his bus pass and went to sit in the seat right in front of the Emergency Exit on the left side. He leaned back and propped his legs on the back of the seat in front of him, trying to block out what had happened.

xXxXxX

The next day Mr. Sannin forced Sasuke to stay ninth again with mroe threats of being written up and failing grades. Sasuke almost wanted to tell someone but hed been warned about that too.

_"Don't dare tell anyone about this," Mr. Sannin said throwing Sasuke's clothes at him where he was curled up on the floor. "Not that they'll believe you anyway."_

So Sasuke turned up ninth again, not even bothering to sit down at one of the desks. His hopes were nowhere near that high.

And again, his teacher walked over to him. He ran his hands up Sasuke's shirt to feel the hard muscles. He either didn't notice or didn't care when Sasuke winced. "Take off your shirt." he muttered. Sasuke complied silently. He felt a twinge of disgust when he saw that the teacher was already hard.

"Now, did you tell anyone about us Sasuke?" he asked in a disgusting falsely sweet voice.

"No, Mr. Sannin." He said, feeling repulsed by how the teacher said "us", they weren't an us.

"Oh please," he murmured, biting Sasuke's neck, "Call me Orochimaru."

xXxXxX

Sasuk went to Orochimaru's every day the entire week. He hadn't told anyone else what had really been going on, the cold weather gave him an excuse to cover up the bruises anyway. When he was leaving the school Friday after ninth Naruto caught up with him. "Hey, wanna hang out tonight?" he asked.

Sasuke thought for a moment. He needed a distraction to be honest. "Yeah, sure. You can come over."

"Which reminds me Kakashi said he can give you a ride as long as you're not late."

"Come on then." He turned from where he was heading out the main door to go to a side door instead. This led them out to the parking lot. Sasuke walked to the middle set of parking spaces and found a silver Toyota with Kakashi sitting in it. He hopped in the passenger's seat and Naruto hopped in the back.

"I love how you ask me for permission." Kakashi mused.

"Just drive." Sasuke growled.

"So moody Sasuke."

Sasuke said nothing for the rest of the car ride.

When they arrived at Kakashi and Sasuke's house Sasuke and Naruto headed straight for the kitchen. While Sasuke rummaged around for food Naruto sat down at the counter and spoke, "So, what's up with Old Snakey?"

Sasuke didn't look up from the cupboard where he was digging out Top Ramen. "I told you, work."

"Pretty vague. What kind of work?"

"Just work, I told you," Sasuke snapped irritatedly, "Get it through your thick skull."

Rather than being offended Naruto frowned. "Kinda sounds like you're hiding something."

Sasuke placed the two oriental ramens on the counter and looked at Naruto, "Just drop it will you?"

"No, I don't feel like it," Naruto said leaning on the counter, "I'm serious Sasuke. What kind of 'work' is he making you do?" He used the air quotes and everything.

"I can't tell you!" He let slip before thinking about it. Turning around he got out a pot and started going about filling it with water.

"Ha! So there _is_ something!" Naruto yelled triumphantly.

"Remember what you said the other day," Sasuke muttered, not looking up from the heating pot, "About him looking like he wants to rape me?"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh my God he raped you?!" He yelled far too loudly.

Kakashi walked into the kitchen, "Who raped you?" he said to Sasuke, "Was it Genma?"

"No one raped me. Naruto's just an idiot, "He shot his trademark deathglare in Naruto's direction. When Kakashi stood in the kitchen anyway he said, "Okay. Leave Now."

Kakashi sighed and walked out of the kitchen, muttering about hormonal teenagers.

Sasuke glared at the door and turned back to Naruto. "No, he didn't quite do that. But I'm sure he probably wants to." He said the last part under his breath.

"Oh," Naruto said, then realization seemed to hit him, "_Oooh_. I'm gonna fuckin' rip his head off." He growled angrily, actually starting to get up.

"You're not gonna do anything."

"Then you've got to tell Kakashi."

"I'm not telling him. I shouldn't even have told you." At this point the water was boiling.

"Why the hell not? What he's doing, that's not cool man."

"I can't tell though."

"And this has been going on every day this week?"

Sasuke nodded in silence as he added the ramen to the water.

"And you told me, but you're not gonna let me do anything about it?"

Another nod as he stirred the ramen a bit.

Naruto sat in angry silence for a moment. Obviously he was angry because his best friend was being hurt. But something in his mind was angry that Old Snakey was touching Sasuke, and this part of his mind had this strange idea that he had claim over Sasuke. Which he didn't. Other than being his best friend but that didn't explain why he was reluctant to allow the idea of other people touching him. It all came back to that pesky 'I like Sasuke' thing that had been in his mind all school year. It had gotten considerably worse since the beginning of October too. After a while he said softly, "And you're gonna keep going?"

"I have to," Sasuke faced Naruto, "I don't know what he'll do if I don't."

"Yeah 'cause he's not doing anything now."

Sasuke ignored the comment, realizing his friend had his best interests at heart. He appreciated that, he really did. He just couldn't tell anyone or stop going. Lord knows what Orochimaru, Sasuke cursed himself for using the man's first name, would do then.

The ramen was done cooking. He added the two flavor pockets and poured it into bowls. Giving Naruto a little more then himself. He sat down at the counter next to Naruto and gave him his bowl. They ate in silence for a moment before Naruto spoke.

"Did you hear about Sakura and Lee?" he said.

Sasuke was infinitely grateful for the subject change. Naruto probably knew that was what he needed. "No, what happened?"

"Lee asked her to go out with him and she actually said yes."

Sasuke almost snorted into his ramen, almost. But he was an Uchiha and he kept his composure. "Oh my God, why?"

"The girls have to stoop pretty low now that everyone's turning out gay. None of them want me. They always say I'm a good friend but they just can't go out with me." He slurped up some ramen, "Idiots."

Sasuke smirked slightly. Thinking how much he appreciated Naruto's friendship. And how much he cared about the blond, in a way that the blond would never return.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello darlings! I'm sure you're all in shock that I updated two days in a row, but hey, I have time!  
And your reviews gave me the fuel I need to keep pushing out the chapters, it was super appreciated. I was so happy when I checked my e-mail and saw three reviews and two favorites. I almost cried. Not even joking sweets, almost cried. I vowed then that I would update within the next two days.

I have aother fic in the works, the first chapter will probably be done by tomorrow. I don't plan on putting it up until after my vacation to NC (I'll be gone from Saturday until next Sunday) but if you guys want me to I'll put it up before I leave  
Leave reviews darlings!


	7. Thrown Off the Trail

Sasuke once again walked into the Biology classroom on Monday morning. It had long since become his most dreaded class. He just wanted to get in there one day and be able to work and leave without having to stay ninth with Orochimaru. It didn't look like he was going to be that lucky.

"Sasuke, ninth in here again please." He said softly as he walked by.

Naruto was sitting behind Sasuke. When he heard this he said, "Sasuke, we have that detention with Kakashi tonight. He'll fail us if we don't show."

"Oh, that's right," Sasuke said, inwardly thanking Naruto, "Sorry Mr. Sannin I can't today."

Orochimaru glared slightly but walked away as the bell rang. Sasuke walked next to Naruto out of the classroom, as soon as they'd left he said, "You didn't need to do that."

"Yes I did," Naruto replied, "I can't really sit around and do nothing can I?"

Sasuke said nothing in response to this as they walked towards Kakashi's classroom. When they entered Naruto said, "Kakashi we're staying ninth for you."

"Uh, why?" Kakashi said looking up from his bright book.

"Because we can."

"Of course."

xXxXxX

Naturally, Sasuke and Naruto showed up ninth in Kakashi's room. They took two chairs and set them in front of his desk where he was pretending to grade papers. Sasuke knew better though, he had Icha Icha opened up in front of him. Sasuke wondered how he ever managed to get anything done when he was always reading that damned book.

"Kakashi, you pervert," Naruto said loudly.

Kakashi looked up, startled. "I was getting to the best part!"

"Sure you were. Now be a good teacher and grade papers."

Kakashi sighed and slipped the book back into his pocket. He took out a red pen and looked down at the paper on top of his pile. The handwriting was completely illegible. Taking out another paper to grade he said, "Is there a reason you two are here?"

"We needed somewhere to stay." Sasuke answered, turning to log onto the computer.

"You couldn't just go home?"

"Nope," Naruto said, watching Sasuke type in a website address.

"Could you at least work?"

"What's the point of that?"

Kakashi just shook his head turning back to his papers.

Sasuke was on yahoo music, looking for music videos to watch.

"Emanuel," Naruto said.

"What if I don't want to listen to Emanuel?" Sasuke said to the computer screen.

"Do it!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and went to Emanuel's page. He clicked on one of the videos.

"_She puts her lips to a bottle of cola_

_I watch the kiss and it turns me on"_

The volume was rather loud, and there were a few other working people in the classroom. Kakashi looked up at the two but they ignored him, they were talking about something. He heard something about "Uber cool ninjas."

"_Relax, relax and let these sexes of your reflex act"_

Kakashi sighed; of course they would listen to a dirty song at high volume. While in school no less. Though it was sort of hypocritical of him to think anything against it. "Sasuke, turn it down."

_"Sway so sway, __**you know you taste so good**_

_This is the night you are the fire_

_**Come on, come on, come on**_

_Sway so sway, and we melt into the floor as one."_

Sasuke shot a look in Kakashi's direction and turned the music down just a tiny bit, the difference wasn't really noticeable. At that moment (to Kakashi's horror) Tsunade (the superintendent) walked by his classroom. Undoubtedly the sound of "_We press our skin and though it resists, oh I slip inside" _attracted her attention to the open door of the room.

She walked into the room and, not to her surprise, saw Naruto and Sasuke sitting at the computer that was the source of the dirty music. "Naruto." she said.

Naruto turned around, once he got a glimpse of her he jumped up and yelled, "Old hag!" Then hugged the poor superintendent.

His remark seemed to be completely false. She seemed quite young and pretty. She had long blonde and almond-shaped brown eyes. Not to mention a chest with quite a bit of surface area. But she appeared young because she aged gracefully.

"That's Ms. Kage to you brat." she muttered but smiled all the same. She had known Naruto since his birth.

"Whatever you say hag."

"_**We give it all, and fade away.**_"

"Uh, Naruto, hate to break it to you kid but you really shouldn't be listening to music that loud. Especially with lyrics like that." she said, trying to play her part. "But of course your teacher wouldn't object."

Kakashi looked up at her and smiled. The upturned 'u' eyes and crinkle in his mask indicated this.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Whatever, it was good to see you brat but I have a meeting to get to." She sighed wearily, "I need a drink." she said as she walked away.

xXxXxX

The rest of that week and the next Sasuke was once again in Orochimaru's room. Orochimaru had asked Sasuke away from Naruto or anyone else. He had been suspicious of their detention with Kakashi. Though Sasuke denied having told anyone he was harshly punished anyway.

And he was hiding it from Naruto. Naruto had asked him if he'd stayed with Orochimaru and Sasuke had denied it. He either said he hadn't stayed ninth at all or said he'd stayed with someone else. It had taken some convincing but finally Naruto believed that there was nothing happening during ninth period in Orochimaru's room. This was a complete lie. It had only been getting worse.

Friday three weeks after the ninths with Orochimaru had started was the worst day yet. Orochimaru kept trying to push Sasuke a bit further, do a little more. Every time Sasuke tried to fight it and refuse Orochimaru would punish him, which usually meant beating him up. On that Friday, Orochimaru was still pressing himself against Sasuke as the bell rang. Sasuke made to try and leave but Orochimaru harshly grabbed his arms. "Oh no, you haven't taken care of me yet." This resulted in Sasuke not leaving until fifteen minutes after ninth period had ended. He stumbled out of the room. Orochimaru had forced him onto awkward positions and his joints hurt. As soon as he had left the Science wing he began running. He headed straight to Kakashi's classroom. He was relieved to see Kakashi closing his door as he rounded the corner.

"Sasuke, why are you still here?" Kakashi said looking mildly surprised.

Sasuke shook his head, "Just take me home." He began to walk down the hallway for the exit. Kakashi walked after him.

When they were seated in the car and waiting for it to warm up Kakashi turned to Sasuke, "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's all good." Sasuke said, staring out the passenger side window.

"Why do I doubt that?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know. I'm fine."

"Where were you staying, Sasuke?"

"Nowhere."

Kakashi furrowed his brows slightly. "Sasuke-"

"Drop it."

Kakashi put the car in drive and drove through the empty parking space in front of them. He said nothing more but cast Sasuke an occasional glance. The raven was sitting with his arms crossed and he was staring blankly out the window. Kakashi had a feeling he was going to have to bring in Naruto for this one.

* * *

**A/N:** The song Sasuke and Naruto are listening to is "Make Tonight" by Emanuel. Awesome song.

Big huge thanks to Hot Chocolatte- My new beta! I am so grateful to her for actually agreeing to take the time to do this for me!

The next chapter will have huge events, trust me. .


	8. Wasted Time

Naruto went over to Sasuke's Saturday night. It was easy for him to get over there since his guardian, Iruka, was dating Kakashi. It worked out perfectly for the two teenagers to be able to see each other all the time. As Naruto and Sasuke were walking through the living room to go up to Sasuke's bedroom Kakashi called him.

"Naruto, can I talk to you for a minute?"he asked. Naruto and Sasuke both stopped and turned around, "Uh, I know this is impossible for you two but, I need to talk to Naruto alone."

Sasuke scowled, "What do you have to say that I can't hear?"

Kakashi's mask crinkled a bit as he smiled a small smile, "Go along." He waved his hand. Sasuke skulked out of the room. Iruka went into the kitchen saying something about making dinner.

"Naruto, do you know anything about what's been going on with Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, trying to look confused. He wasn't the best actor.

"Something's been off with him lately."

More off than usual?" Naruto snorted.

"Naruto, I'm serious. Yesterday he showed up at my room fifteen minutes after ninth ended and needed a ride."

"He did?" Naruto said, now actually looking confused.

"Yes, and he wouldn't tell me where he stayed. Do you know anything about it?"

"Uh, maybe. But I can't tell you, I don't go back on my word."

Kakashi sighed, Naruto was too damn stubborn. "Naruto, if there's something I need to know-"

"No, it's nothing, really. Uh, gotta go." The blond bolted up to Sasuke's room before Kakashi could say anything else.

xXxXxX

The walls of Sasuke's room were dark blue and covered in posters. They were a mixture of bands and movies. For instance, a Pirates of the Carribean (He thinks Johnny Depp is hot) was right next to a My Chemical Romance poster. He had a metal bedframe with white sheets and a dark blue bedspread, it wasn't made. Sasuke thought that was a waste of time.

When Naruto walked in his room he was blaring The Used and sitting on his bed. It was quite the image for "Box Full of Sharp Objects" to be playing and Sasuke to be sitting there staring into space. 'All that's missing is a bloody razorblade,' Naruto mused. He shook his head, no, he didn't want to see Sasuke with a bloody razorblade.

He took a seat next to Sasuke. Sasuke reached out with the remote and turned the volume down a little bit. "What did Kakashi want?"

"He wanted to ask me about what's been up with you lately. Man, he's so fucking suspicious."

"You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

"Naw, I told him I couldn't. But he told me something interesting."

Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Told me you were late after ninth yesterday."

"Oh."

"You told me you weren't staying ninth with that old perv anymore."

"Naruto I-"

"You lied."

"I'm sorry, but you wouldn't leave me alone about it."

"That's 'cause I care about you idiot!" Naruto blushed as soon as the words had left his mouth.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "There a reason you're blushing loser?"

"I'm not blushing bastard!" Naruto flung the hood of his orange sweatshirt over his head and looked down. One part of his mind registered that "Bulimic" had just started, Sasuke must have had the CD on random.

Sasuke pulled Naruto's hood back, "Dude, you so were."

"Don't change the subject!" Naruto yelled as the blush faded.

"I said I was sorry."

"Yeah that does a lot."

"What else can I do?"

"Tell someone!"

"No!"

"Sasuke!"

"Drop it Naruto," Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke I'm serious. You really need to tell someone. If you don't, I'll go kick his ass."

"Is there a reason you wouldn't just tell someone?"

"I told you I wouldn't, and I don't go back on my word. Especially not my word to you."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile a little at these words, the look of determination and loyalty in Naruto's eyes was kind of hot. "I'm touched." Sasuke said sarcastically, clutching a hand to his heart.

Naruto punched him.

xXxXxX

A while later they were called down for dinner. Iruka had made spaghetti and garlic bread. The bread was a bit burnt as Kakashi had started kissing him while it was in the oven and he'd almost forgotten about it.

While they were sitting and eating Kakashi kept glancing at Sasuke. Sasuke noticed this but chose to ignore it, though it was a bit annoying. Naruto noticed it too, he nudged Sasuke. Sasuke glanced at him and rolled his eyes a little.

"You could just tell him," Naruto said almost silently.

Sasuke said nothing in response to this, turning back to his spaghetti.

Naruto sighed. Iruka frowned, looking over at them. He glanced at Kakashi, who merely shook his head. He wasn't wearing a mask, the dinner table (and his bedroom with Iruka) were the only places he didn't wear it. Though he usually made a point to get it back on as quick as he could, sure enough he was done very quickly and running to his room to get a mask on. Iruka rolled his eyes. Kakashi had never told him nor anyone else why he wore the mask.

Sasuke and Naruto finshed, sticking their plates in the dishwasher and heading back up to Sasuke's room. "Pretty soon Kakashi's just gonna like, force you to tell him." Naruto said.

"How would he do that?" Sasuke asked as he turned on his tv.

"I don't know, torture you or something? He's always kind of reminded me of a ninja."

"Right." Sasuke inserted a game into the slot on his N64. It was transparent green with matching controllers.

The two sat on his bed, picking up controllers. "Welcome to Mario Kart!" It was an all-time favorite of the two, and they still played it often. Despite the fact that Sasuke had more up-to-date games.

They played the game for a at least an hour and a half. They were disrupted in the middle of Rainbow Run (Naruto's favorite) by the sound of a moan.

Sasuke's eye twitched and he dropped his controller, "They're two fucking rooms away!" He got up and went over to his CD player.

Naruto used this to his advantage and won that track. "Ha!"

The sound of "Maybe Memories" filled the room. Sasuke was hoping to drown out the sounds that would certainly be issuing from Kakashi's bedroom.

"You would think they would wait until it was a little later," Naruto said glancing at the clock. Quarter to nine.

"Kakashi's probably gonna try and get Iruka to do it more than once." Sasuke said darkly.

Naruto's eye twitched. "Dude, I don't even want to know."

Sasuke sighed, "No, you don't."

The boys resumed their game of Mario Kart, now going into the battle part of the game.

xXxXxX

After a little while they stopped, sitting on Sasuke's bed just talking.

"Dude, midterms are starting soon." Naruto said.

Sasuke glanced at the calendar, "Yeah, they are."

"I still don't think you should be keeping this whole thing a secret." Naruto was trying to catch Sasuke off-guard.

"Naruto, you just don't get it do you? I can't tell anyone. Maybe you don't understand the concept of secrets but usually it's not good if people know about them."

"Hey! I understand the concept! You think you're the only one with a secret?" Naruto said indignantly.

"What secret do you have?" Sasuke said with a slight grin.

Naruto blushed again, "Uh, secret? Who said I have a secret? Pssh, don't be stupid Sasuke!" He was sounding frantic. His secret was that he'd finally figured out how he felt about Sasuke.

"Naruto?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have a secret! Geez, you say one thing all of a sudden you have people accusing you of all these things-"

"Naruto shut up." Sasuke leaned in and pressed his lips to Naruto's. He didn't really know what made him do it. When he pulled away Naruto was too shocked to even be blushing.

"S-Sasuke?" He stuttered in amazement.

"I had to shut you up." Sasuke muttered, looking away. "Forget it happened."

"I can't."

Sasuke looked back up to see that Naruto's blush had caught up with him. The raven had never seen anything that red. "You're blushing again."

Naruto looked away.

Sasuke pieced everything together in his mind. Naruto blushed after saying he cared about Sasuke. Naruto said he had a secret, then got all flustered when Sasuke called him on it. Then he blushed when Sasuke kissed him. Did Naruto like him?

"_It's a feeling that you cannot miss_

_And it burns a hole_

_Through everyone that feels it."_

_"_Naruto, is there something you need to tell me?" Sasuke asked him seriously.

"Uh, what do you mean?" The blush had faded but the blond refused to look at him.

"Naruto."

"I uh- I'm pretty sure I'm bi." Naruto said in a small voice.

Sasuke watched him closely.

_"Well you'll never find it_

_If you're looking for it."_

"And I might sort of- like you." He focused on the bedspread, not wanting to see Sasuke's face.

Which was all really unnecessary as Sasuke's face broke into a smile.

"_By the way your hands were shaking_

_Rather waste some time with you."_

"Naruto, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't like me too."

"Naruto did you forget the fact that I'm gay?"

Naruto looked up, trying to figure out what exactly Sasuke was hinting at. Sasuke took pity on him and leaned in to kiss him again, holding one cheek as he did so. Naruto shifted closer, responding to the kiss. They continued to kiss softly and lovingly.

"_Should've said something_

_But I've said it enough_

_By the way my words were faded_

_Rather waste some time with you."_

They broke apart after a few moments, both lightly panting. Both with flushed faces. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. All of a sudden everything that had been happening was pushed out of his mind. He'd liked Naruto for a few years now, and finally Naruto returned his feelings. He hadn't been this truly happy since before his parent's death. Which had been when he was eight, so it had been a long time. He couldn't help but admire the grin gracing Naruto's features. Thinking, that just for the moment, life was peaceful.

"_Waste some time with you."_

* * *

**A/N:** "Blue and Yellow" by The Used. I thought it fit nicely.

Eeps! They're finally together. Which means there isn't a whole lot left.


	9. Give Thanks?

**-gasp- An update? Why yes! This would have been up earlier today but documents were being a bitch.  
Thanks Hot Chocolatte! For taking the time to beta this. As gud as my grammar are... Yeah.**

**Disclaimer: (Have I done one of these yet?) Of coure I own it! Do you not see the hot ninjas smexing it up every episode? Oh, you don't? That was a dream? Masashi Kishimoto put something in my drink to make me _have_ that dream? Damn!**

* * *

_He had no sooner than walked through the door than he froze, barely even breathing. His dark eyes were impossibly wide, the gold-starred paper fluttered to the floor. There was blood. Everywhere. It was spurted all over the wall and the back of the couch that his mother was laying on with a gunshot wound to her head. Her dark, beautiful eyes were open staring blankly at Sasuke. On the floor next to the couch was Sasuke's father. A spurt of blood covered the chest of his white button-up short that he wore for work. His eyes were closed, his head turned to look at his wife. Recovering slightly from the shock Sasuke let out a piercing scream. _

_"Otouto," a deep voice said softly from the doorway into the living room._

_The young boy turned to see a tall young man with long hair, "Aniki. Mommy, Daddy, what happened?" Tears were starting to form in the boy's eyes._

_Itachi looked impassively at his parent's bodies. "They had it coming." his voice held no emotion._

_"Aniki, I'm confused. What happened? "Sasuke was sobbing now, "__**Why are Mommy and Daddy dead? "**_

_"They moved us here thinking that it was a better country. They were foolish. They had this coming. I needed to prove my strength. They were unnecessary objects that would only get in the way. So are you." The man's face was still freakishly indifferent._

_Comprehension dawned on Sasuke. But it didn't make sense, his Aniki wouldn't do that! His Aniki loved him and his parents! "Itachi?" He whispered, tears still streaming down his somewhat chubby face. He slowly tried to back away. He was aware of his bare feet stepping in something wet, looking down he saw that he'd backed up into a pool of one of his parents' blood._

_Itachi pulled a gun out of the sweatshirt he was wearing, "I'm sorry Otouto, but you're unnecessary." The gun was cocked and pointed right at Sasuke's chest. The younger boy was paralyzed in fear. Itachi was getting ready to pull the trigger when he spotted something behind Sasuke. He dropped his hand to his side, eyes narrowed slightly and walked past Sasuke. Sasuke watched in fear as he walked to the end table. The phone was lying off the hook. Itachi picked it up and listened, there was silence. No dial-tone. Someone was probably there. "Shit." he muttered, setting the phone down. "Sorry Otouto, you don't get to join our parents today." He walked swiftly from the room and out of the house. Not keen to be found at the scene covered with gunpowder and blood if the cops showed up._

_Sasuke turned his attention back to his father, as he watched his father the scene changed. He was in a dark room with a bed. He was older now, and laying on the bed completely naked. A snake-like face swam into view, "Do what I wish. Your brother will never hurt you," the feeling of fingers touching his ass-_

Sasuke woke with a start, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide and his face ghostly pale in the dark room. It had just been a dream; it was Sunday night, or Monday morning. But the first part wasn't really a dream. That had happened. And the last part, well he imagined that could happen. He was suddenly aware that his cheeks were damp and that his eyes felt rather puffy. He'd been crying, hard, it seemed. He sat there shaking, he felt scared, and angry. He felt so horrible he was desperate just to get rid of the feeling. Without thinking he got up and went over to his dresser. He dug in the corner of one of his drawers. Pulling clothes aside he was greeted by a glint of metal. Staring at it for a moment he picked a razor out of the small pile of objects. He stared at it for a moment longer. It had been a little over a year. He was so desperate though. The raven held his arm so his forearm was completely exposed. He took a breath and then pressed the razor into his flesh, close to the crook of his elbow. Dragging it vertically up his arm he watched the blood start to form then pulled the blade away. It was rapidly starting to bleed; the pain was sharp and stinging, but good. The unbearable feeling had faded; he pressed the razor into his skin again and made a second cut parallel to the first. Soon both cuts were starting to drip.

"Damn," Sasuke whispered as a drop of blood fell to the ground. He quietly padded out of the room to the bathroom down the hallway. He reached it and turned on the light, closing the door behind him but not tightly. He quickly went over to the sink before he had the chance to bleed on anything else and turned the faucet on. As he rinsed the blood off the cut he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, his eyes were indeed puffy. _Kakashi had to try and comfort me 'cause he's my Godfather,_ he thought, _He was awful at it. I remember him coming to take me to his house way too clearly._ He shook his head, trying to clear all thoughts of that day. Distracted, he didn't hear the footsteps in the hallway. He was toweling off his arm when the door opened, Sasuke quickly dropped the towel and his arm to his side. Kakashi was standing there in sweatpants; his eyes were half-open.

"Sasuke, are you all right?" Kakashi asked him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" The raven raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

"I heard you, talking in your sleep."

Sasuke looked at the ground where the burgundy towel was discarded. He said nothing.

"You dreamt about _that_ again didn't you?"

"Whatever, I have school tomorrow. I need to sleep." Sasuke glanced at the clock and saw that it was five; he would be getting up in less than an hour anyway.

"What were you doing in here?"

"Going to the bathroom." Sasuke made to start walking back to his bedroom.

"I went in to check on you."

"That's nice."

"Yeah, you didn't cover up very well. You left the razor sitting on your dresser." Kakashi said, leaning against the door frame.

Sasuke stopped. "Why would I have a razor?"

"Sasuke let me see your arm."

Sasuke turned around with every intention of pretending not to know what Kakashi was talking about. Then he saw his guardian's face, and all thoughts of lying about it stopped. Kakashi looked genuinely worried and upset. Sasuke held out his left arm. The two cuts showed very red and dark against his pale skin, and deep. They'd started to bleed a bit again. _My fucking luck, of course Kakashi finds out,_ he thought bitterly.

"I want you to put some Neosporin on those. That razor can't have been clean." Kakashi started to walk toward his bedroom.

"Are you mad?" Sasuke whispered.

"No, but five AM isn't really the time to talk."

xXxXxX

The following Wednesday Naruto and Iruka were again at Sasuke and Kakashi's. It was Thanksgiving break so they had the whole day. Iruka was going to clean and start getting ready for Thanksgiving the next day. Naruto immediately went up to Sasuke's room. They hadn't yet told anyone else that they were together. They wanted to have it to themselves for at least a little while. Lord knew it would be hell for them when Genma found out.

"I really think you should tell Kakashi," Naruto said lying on Sasuke's legs. They had just been making out.

"Naruto, is it possible for you to drop it?" Sasuke said sounding very exasperated.

"Nope. But seriously, you should," He looked up at Sasuke, "Please."

Sasuke looked down at those brilliant blue eyes that he loved. They were looking back at him with a sort of sadness; Sasuke felt a slight pain in his chest. But he didn't say anything in reply.

xXxXxX

A little while later found Naruto and Sasuke in the kitchen. Naruto was cleaning the floor and Sasuke was cleaning the counters. Iruka had forced them to join in his cleaning, which Kakashi never did. There was quite a bit of work to be done to get it up to Iruka's standards.

Kakashi randomly wandered in while the two were hard at work. It was blazing in there as Iruka had the oven on so it would clean. The silver-haired man walked over to the refrigerator to grab a Bud Light. "How's the cleaning going?" He said cheerfully, sitting on the counter Sasuke was currently scrubbing at.

"It would go better if you weren't in the way," Sasuke grumbled.

"Speaking of in the way Sasuke, your sweatshirt's gonna smell like orange Mr. Clean." Naruto called from where he was picking Sasuke's Skeleton Crew sweatshirt off the floor and plopping it on the counter.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to scrub at a stubborn spot of food on the light blue counter. He recognized it to be some of the sauce from the chicken Kakashi had made over a week ago. Kakashi was still sitting there, drinking his beer.

"Hey Kakashi," Naruto called, "Since you're here, Sasuke has something he needs to tell you."

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, Sasuke assumed he was raising an eyebrow but it was on the side that his hair covered. "Really?"

"No!" Sasuke said at the same time as Naruto called, "Yes!"

"I'm listening," Kakashi said, downing the last bit of the beer and setting the can next to him.

"That's nice, but I don't have anything to say." The raven spat.

"Liar!" Sasuke chucked his rag at Naruto. The blond stopped mopping and looked seriously at Sasuke, "If you don't tell him I will. I'm serious Sasuke."

Sasuke took a seat at one of the kitchen chairs, "Why are you in here anyway?" he asked Kakashi.

"Hiding from Iruka," the man scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "He's working me like a dog." He dropped his hand, looking at Sasuke seriously, "So, tell me."

Sasuke merely shook his head; he was rubbing at the cuts on his left arm.

"Naruto?"

The blonde looked at Sasuke. He really didn't want to betray his best friend (and boyfriend, come to think of it), but it would be for Sasuke's own good if he told Kakashi what had been going on with Orochimaru. The three days of school they'd had that week Sasuke had ran off during ninth period- And Naruto knew where he'd stayed. "Well uh, remember that day Sasuke was late after ninth?" Naruto was staring at the white and blue-patterned linoleum.

"Yeah," Kakashi said. It had happened again since then.

"Well, he was staying with Old- Er, Mr. Sannin."

The French teacher's eyes were fixed on his Godson. "And what happened?"

Naruto looked very uncomfortable with whatever he was going to say next. "Uh, well, he pulled a Michael Jackson."

Sasuke snorted, it wasn't really funny, but he couldn't help it. A _Michael Jackson?_ That was priceless.

"You're shitting me."

Naruto shook his head, "There's no shitting going on here."

"That fucking _bastard_. I knew he was a creep! I'm gonna fucking rip his fucking head off!" Kakashi yelled, getting up. He swore a lot when he was mad. "Sasuke, why didn't you tell me?"

_"Don't dare tell anyone about this."_

"He threatened me. I couldn't. I was scared out of my head." Sasuke said softly.

"How far, exactly, did he get?" Kakashi asked, staring with slightly narrowed eyes at the dark-wood kitchen table.

"Not- Not all the way. Damn close, but not all the way."

"And how long has it been going on?"

"Since the beginning of October."

"That freak. That sick freak." Kakashi said, actually feeling a bit ill. He also felt like he'd let Fugaku and Mikoto down. He'd said as Sasuke's Godfather that he'd protect him if anything should happen to them. He'd failed at that, obviously.

"Kakashi, what are you gonna do?" Sasuke asked him with a slightly worried look in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you. It would be just like you to go and do something- Something stupid."

"I'm gonna do what the bastard deserves come Monday." He walked out of the kitchen.

Naruto watched this all in silence. When Kakashi left he spoke up, "That means kick the living shit out of the old bastard, doesn't it?"

"Probably," Sasuke said, picking up his rag and going back to scrubbing the counters.

xXxXxX

Iruka walked into Kakashi's bedroom that night to see Kakashi sitting in his bed in silence. The silver-haired man looked angry and upset about something. The brown-haired man sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Kakashi. Is everything all right?" He asked softly.

"No," Kakashi answered.

"What's wrong?"

Kakashi knew he didn't have to worry about telling Iruka, he could trust the man with his life. "You know Orochimaru?"

"Mhmm." Iruka rested against the taller man.

"I just found out he's been molesting Sasuke for two months."

"What!" Iruka's brown eyes widened. "That's awful."

Kakashi nodded. "I can't believe this has been happening all this time and I didn't know."

"Don't go blaming yourself now. It's not your fault. Sasuke's just really adamant about hiding things." The brunette said softly, soothingly, "The only person that can really be blamed for this is Orochimaru."

Kakashi nodded in solemn silence.

xXxXxX

Kakashi opened Sasuke's door Thanksgiving morning without knocking, "Sasuke, Naruto! You have... to..." He trailed off when he saw the two boys. They were lying in Sasuke's bed; Sasuke had his arms around Naruto who was sporting quite the hickey. "Whoa."

Sasuke slowly blinked awake; when he saw Kakashi standing there he bolted up, "Kakashi! What the hell?"

"I didn't realize I'd be interrupting something." The man said smiling.

"Whazgoinon?" Naruto mumbled, waking up.

"Why didn't you tell me you two were dating?"

"Where'd you get that idea?" Naruto asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"You two were being pretty cuddly," Kakashi said.

"So?"

"Get a look at yourself, then you'll know." He walked away, "And hurry up, you have to come help."

Naruto got up and walked over to Sasuke's closet, opening the door. There was a mirror on the inside of the door. "Holy shit." He whispered, touching the dark mark on his neck. He turned and glared at Sasuke accusingly, "That thing is friggin huge."

"It's not that big, "Sasuke muttered, getting up and grabbing clothes out of his dresser.

"Oh sure easy for you to- Sasuke, what happened to your arm?"

Sasuke had slipped his sweatshirt off and unrealizingly exposed his left arm. He paused, "I uh, accidentally scratched myself with a pencil."

_"And now the_ _award for Worst Excuse Ever goes to... Sasuke Uchiha!"_

"Uh-uh, right. I'm sure." Naruto was crossing his arms. "Come here."

Sasuke reluctantly walked over- And Naruto punched him in the jaw. Not as hard as he could have but it still hurt.

"What was that for?"

"You said you wouldn't do that ever again!" The blond yelled.

"I know but-"

"Why'd you do it?"

"It's a stupid reason. But, I had a dream about the day my parents died on Sunday night."

"That's not stupid. Just don't do it again. I'm frickin serious!"

Sasuke, dressed in a pair of jeans, an MCR t-shirt, and MCR sweatshirt headed towards the door, "Hurry up. Iruka's probably gonna set us a ton of stuff to do again." He rolled his eyes and walked out.

Naruto quickly threw on his clothes and followed Sasuke out. They followed the smell of cooking into the kitchen where they found Iruka stirring something and Kakashi on the counter. Iruka turned when they came in, "Why didn't you tell us you were dating?" He said with a bright smile on his face.

Naruto groaned, "Kakashi, what the hell?"

"I couldn't keep news this big to myself!"

"So, you two really are together?" Iruka asked. He looked like he was on the verge of hugging both of them.

Their silence and exchanged glances seemed to be enough of an answer. "Aw, that's so cute!" The brunette said.

"Wait until Genma and Raidou find out." Kakashi said with a slight grin.

"Oh God no!" Sasuke was on his knees at Kakashi's feet, "Don't tell Genma! Please! Do you want us to die early deaths?"

Naruto was just staring with wide eyes at Kakashi; he seriously looked like he'd gone into shock. Both at the idea of Genma finding out and Sasuke's horrible lapse of character. Naruto imagined that if this were a script or story Sasuke would kill the writer. Very. Brutally.

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, it would mean a lot less responsibility for me. And two less papers to grade..."

"Kakashi, you fuckin' suck." Sasuke said, glaring. He grabbed the still gaping Naruto's hand and led him out of the kitchen. He had no intention of helping for the rest of the day. Nope, he would retreat to his room with Naruto.

xXxXxX

Kakashi, Iruka, Sasuke, Naruto, Genma, and Raidou sat around the Thanksgiving table that night. It was the closest thing to family any of them really had. Iruka and Kakashi were both parentless, and Genma's and Raidou's parents had both disowned them upon finding out they were gay. Needless to say they weren't welcome at family dinners.

Kakashi hadn't yet mentioned Sasuke and Naruto's relationship, but they had all just dug into their first plate of mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, and turkey. There was time. It would come up. Sasuke was waiting for it, and when it came up- He was going to make a run for it. He had it all planned out. He'd run to his room and barricade himself in. He'd leave Naruto as a diversion, and to make a quicker get-away. The raven felt a little bad, but sacrifices had to be made.

By the end of the first plate, the subject had popped up. "Sasuke, Naruto, I have to ask: Why the hell are you two still single? I don't see how you can live without getting laid!" Genma exclaimed as he scooped more mashed potatoes onto his plate.

Sasuke dropped his fork as Kakashi answered, "But they're not single!"

"Really?" Genma looked like he'd gotten the juiciest bit of gossip ever, "Who are they dating? Do I know them?"

Sasuke pushed his chair back a bit. "It won't be a surprise believe me. I saw it coming from a few miles. They're dating each other."

Sasuke bolted up, but Naruto was prepared for it. He grabbed onto him with an, "Oh _hell_ no!"

"Sacrifices, God dammit!" Sasuke yelled, struggling.

Meanwhile Genma was completely ecstatic. "Really? That's so cute! Have you two done it yet?" He asked with a sly grin.

Sasuke stopped struggling, giving Genma a strange look. "Genma, you're the biggest pervert ever."

"I know, but have you?"

"No. Genma. We haven't even been together for a week."

Genma got a slightly pouty look, "Pfft, so? That's plenty long enough!"

"Genma, I really don't think that's the right message to be sending," Iruka said. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly in a sort of worried look.

Genma simply giggled (he had a bit of alcohol in his system, resulting in him being a little tipsy), "So, how far have you gone?"

"Genma, stop." Raidou said, giving his lover a stern look.

The perverted brunette scrunched up his nose, "Don't be boring Rai."

Kakashi grinned a bit, "Blowjob, right? You guys have spent a _lot_ of time in Sasuke's room."

"Kakashi!" Iruka warned.

Sasuke was getting ready to make a run for it; he'd drag Naruto along if he had to. But if the blond slowed him down he'd chuck him. Stick to the original 'Leave the boyfriend behind as a distraction' plan.

"Fine," Kakashi said. He and Genma exchanged a glance, an unreadable glance, and burst out in laughter. Everyone else at that table decided then that they didn't want to know what that glance had meant.

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**I felt pretty good about that chapter, and it was long! .  
So, read and review my dears. That makes Kunoichi happy, and when she's happy she pops out more chapters and fics. And you want that now don't you?**


	10. Of Being Content

**Disclaimer: Me and Masashi Kishimoto played a game of poker for the rights to Naruto. Apparently yelling, "Shit! This hand sucks!" and then trying (not too discreetly) to cheat is not the best idea.  
**

* * *

"Kakashi, tell me you're not going to do anything," Sasuke said, leaning against his teacher/guardian's desk. 

"I can't make any promises," the silver-haired man replied without glancing away from his laptop screen. "I need you to stay ninth today. You're behind a couple of assignments."

"I already have somewhere else to stay," Sasuke mumbled in response.

Kakashi looked sternly up at Sasuke. "No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"Orochimaru doesn't count."

"Who said it was him?"

"Sasuke, you're not going to fool me anymore. It's bad enough you've managed to do so up until now. I'm not putting up with it anymore. I'm _not_ going to let you keep getting hurt."

Sasuke looked down at the little paper-clip holder on Kakashi's desk. He picked it up and started fiddling with the paper-clips in it. "I was scared." he stated.

"I know."

"He knows Itachi."

Kakashi's eyes snapped up from the screen he was working at. "What?" He said sharply.

Sasuke continued to fiddle with the paper-clips. They were striped. "He mentioned it once. He knew Itachi. That's why he came to work at this school. He wanted to meet me because of me. My last name."

"Is he in actual contact with Itachi?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He said he knew him, he didn't say whether they still talk or anything." Sasuke finally looked up from the paper-clips. "I think that scared me more than anything. I was afraid if I told he'd get Aniki to come finish me off."

Kakashi furrowed his brows, "Itachi hasn't been able to get at you yet. He's a wanted man; he can't exactly show up and kill you." Kakashi could never get used to calling Itachi a wanted man. He'd known Itachi back when he'd seemed like the perfect son and older brother.

"He'll figure it out. Someday. I'm surprised he hasn't yet."

"Sasuke-"

"I should probably go to class now. The bell rang a minute ago. Pass." Sasuke pulled out the yellow card. Kakashi sighed, signing a not tardy. Sasuke walked out and made his way to his first period class.

xXxXxX

The bell rang for the end of second period. As Sasuke was walking out the door he said, "Mr. Sannin, I can't stay ninth today. I have a detention with Kakashi." He made to leave the room but Orochimaru called him back.

"Sasuke, are you trying to avoid me?" He asked in his slithering voice.

"No, I have a detention. I have to go," Sasuke insisted. He looked at a stack of papers lying on the counter at the front of the room. He could no longer meet the man's eyes.

"That's a shame, but I have a free period now."

"I don't."

"Ah, but you're not feeling well. You'll be at the nurse." Orochimaru walked over to the door, locking it and flicking off the lights so only the dim light that managed to get around the blinds was entering the room.

Sasuke took a step backwards as Orochimaru advanced on him. "Come now, Sasuke, why do you look so afraid?"

Sasuke looked away as he was pressed back onto a desk.

xXxXxX

Naruto chatted happily with Kiba as they took seats in French class. He seemed oblivious to the fact that Sasuke should have been there and wasn't. He'd seen Sasuke trying to tell Orochimaru he couldn't stay ninth with him. He figured it was just taking awhile.

Kakashi stood at the front of the room to start class, "We have a few pages of notes on grammar- Naruto?"

The blond looked up at the teacher, "Hm?"

"Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto glanced around the room. "Uh, not here." He said helpfully.

"That much is obvious, but where is he?"

"Er, he was telling Orochimaru about his detention with you last I saw him."

Kakashi ran out of the classroom without another word, leaving a bunch of bewildered students behind him. Naruto, after a moment's hesitation, took off after him.

"Why didn't you stay with him?" Kakashi yelled as they rounded the corner that led to the Science wing.

"Because I was being an idiot!"

"Obviously!"

xXxXxX

Orochimaru was stirred from his attack of Sasuke's neck by the sound of the doorknob trying to turn. He straightened up, looking over at the door. Then there was a knock, "Orochimaru, can I have a word?" Kakashi's voice rang from the other side.

Orochimaru glared darkly, "I'm rather busy at the moment Kakashi. Don't you have a class to be teaching?" He saw Sasuke attempting to put his clothes back on and smacked him, taking the clothes out of his reach.

"Yeah, but I need to talk to you about something. It's really important." Outside, Kakashi was looking a lot angrier than his voice led on. He'd sent Naruto to check down adjoining hallways for a janitor.

"I have a lot of work to do right now, Kakashi."

"Orochimaru, you sound like you're trying to hide something." Kakashi forced a cheery teasing note into his voice.

Meanwhile, Naruto had found a janitor. "Oi, Roger! I need you to come open this door for me!" He said to the tall skinny man.

"Naruto, shouldn't you be in class?" Roger asked.

"Yeah but it's for my teacher! Come on!" Naruto led the janitor back down the hallway to the science wing. Kakashi saw them coming and walked over, "Roger, I need you to open that door for me," he whispered, pointing to Orochimaru's door.

"I'm not supposed to open other teacher's doors for you," the man informed him.

"I know, but this is kind of important. Just unlock the door and leave. No one will know and you can leave with a clean conscience."

Roger paused for another moment then inserted the key, unlocking the door. Then he walked away with one last curious glance from behind his glasses at the teacher and student. Kakashi waited for him to turn the corner before opening the door and barging in.

Orochimaru looked at him from where he was standing to a mostly naked Sasuke. "Kakashi, didn't I tell you I was busy?" he asked with a slight sneer.

Kakashi glared at the man venomously. "You sick bastard."

Sasuke took advantage of the distraction and slipped his clothes back on. He rounded to the back of the room and slipped out of the room. As soon as he'd gotten out Naruto threw his arms around him. "God, Sasuke. I'm sorry."

"You two go back to my class, I'll be back soon." Kakashi said without turning.

"Kakashi-" Sasuke started.

"Go!" He slammed the door shut.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances before starting to walk down the hallway, arms around each other. Son they heard a small shout from behind them, "Naruto, Sasuke!"

The two boys turned to see a redhead in their grade that they talked to sometimes. They weren't really friends but she was kind of cool. Kind of weird too if the rainbow headband and bright yellow nail polish she was wearing was any indication. "Sabrina, what are you doing out of class?" Naruto asked.

"I went out on a 'Find the teacher' mission. Where is he?"

"Oh, around." Naruto answered mysteriously.

She raised a brow, "Right. Did you know you have your arms around each other?"

Naruto hastily dropped his arm, blushing brilliantly. "Uhh..."

"It's okay; I just didn't know you two were dating. It's so cute though!" She flashed them a bright smile, then walked away.

"That chick's weird," Sasuke stated.

Naruto shrugged, "I guess so. At least she's not a skank though." They began their trek back to the French room. "Hey Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"Are you okay?"

Sasuke raised a brow, "What are you talking about?"

"Like, after what just happened."

"I don't really want to talk about it right now."

Naruto frowned slightly but dropped the subject. At the moment he was just taking in the idea that that was probably the last time Sasuke would be hurt. There was no way Orochimaru would be able to get away. Not after what had just happened. He let a goofy smile slide onto his face. Sasuke glanced at him, when he saw the smile he couldn't help but let the smallest of smiles cross his face as well. Naruto just had a way of making him feel so much better. In his mind he realized that he was in love with Naruto, though he'd never voiced it. He wasn't ready to yet. He wouldn't be ready t for a while. He was content with having the knowledge to himself.

He was content with being with Naruto.

* * *

**I hope you didn't gag on the fluff at the end there. .  
So, one chapter of SophomoreSlump left. But this is not the last that will be seen of it. A sequel will eventually come out. Might be a little while though.**

**Again, I have to thank my beta Hot Chocolatte for making my grammar more better.**

**Review, monkies, review!! -cackle-**


	11. Making It Through

**Disclaimer: I asked Masashi Kishimoto for Sasuke. Just one measly little character. And he geave him to me! Turns out he only did that because Sasuke wants to kill me for the shit that happens to him in my fics. And that moment of horrible OOCness where he was on his knees begging. (Raise your hands if you thought dirty thoughts there!)**

* * *

Christmas Eve found the two guardians and their "sons" sitting in the living room watching Christmas movies on ABC Family. Kakashi and Iruka were cuddling on the couch and Sasuke and Naruto were sprawled on the carpeted floor. All the lights were off with the exception of the multi-colored ones on the Christmas tree tucked into the corner. A large bowl of popcorn was sitting on the floor next to Sasuke and Naruto. It almost looked like the typical family scene. Except the "sons" were laying a little too closely.

Naruto and Iruka would be moving in with Kakashi soon. They had to wait for the New Year and then they would be moving out of their small home into Kakashi's larger one. It only made sense considering how much time they spent there anyway. They'd already started moving some of their furniture into Kakashi's. Naruto was going to stay in the currently empty room.

"What's on next?" Naruto asked as the credits for "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" rolled across the screen.

"The Year Without A Santa Claus," Iruka said with a glanced at the TV Guide.

"Yes!"

"Oh God," Sasuke groaned. "Somebody change it."

"Why?" Kakashi asked with a raised brow. Iruka had gotten him out of his mask.

"You've never watched that movie with Naruto have you?"

"No."

"It's his favorite Christmas movie. He sings along with every effin' song! It's so annoying."

"Hey! Sasuke, I'm hurt by that!" the blonde said with a pout.

"Not my problem."

"You're so mean to me sometimes."

"Again, not my problem."

"Sasukee!" Naruto made his poked out bottom lip tremble. Sasuke smirked and leaned in to give the lip a quick kiss. When he pulled away Naruto was smiling.

Up on the couch Iruka and Kakashi exchanged smiles. Who called it?

xXxXxX

"I'm Mr. White Christmas, I'm Mr.Snow, I'm Mr. Icicle..."

Sasuke groaned. Why couldn't they have changed the channel? Did they enjoy torturing him? Now that he thought about it, Kakashi did in fact like watching him suffer. He was a sick, twisted person like that. That was probably why they were all stuck listening to Naruto sing along off-key.

As Naruto and the movie were getting back into the chorus the phone rang. Kakashi glanded around and realized he'd left it in the kitchen. Sighing, he got up and went to answer it. Sasuke listened to the muffled grunting that was Kakashi answering. A few minutes later the ailver-haired man walked back in.

"I have news," he stated.

"Good news or bad news?" Sasuke asked.

"Kind of depends on how you look at it."

Sasuke raised a brow and looked at Kakashi.

"They haven't been able to find Orochimaru anywhere. They're pretty sure he managed to get on a fight to Guatemala."

Sasuke ignored the random choice of country. "I saw that coming."

"Did you?"

The raven nodded, "He knew my brother. I didn't exactly expect him to wait for the cops to show."

"This means he's still out there."

"Keyword: There. Not here."

"True but-"

"This isn't really a subject for Christmas." Iruka said with furrowed, worried brows.

"You worry too much." Kakashi said, taking his seat on the sofa.

"Someone needs to."

Sasuke turned back over and caught Naruto's cerulean eyes. "You sure you're okay?" the blond asked.

Sasuke nodded, "I'm sure."

xXxXxX

Iruka walked over to Naruto's room to wake the blond up. As far as the brunette was concerned ten was more than late enough on the weekend. He knocked on the door before opening it to an empty room. He frowned slightly. Naruto certainly wasn't awake already. He walked down the hall to Sasuke's room, opening the door.

Naruto was curled up on Sasuke's bed next to the raven. Sasuke had an arm thrown around the blond as they slept, Sasuke's stomach curled into Naruto's back. Smiling to himself Iruka shut the door.

"What's the smile for?" Kakashi murmured in his ear, coming up behind him and placing his arms around his stomach.

"I don't think we really needed to set up that spare room for Naruto," he said.

"I already figured that. I suppose we have a guest room now. All we needs is guests."

As if on cue the doorbell rang, Kakashi sighed and trudged down the stairs to answer it. Standing at the door was Genma.

"Hey Kakashi," he said with a nervous smile around the toothpick, "Uh, Raidou's kind of mad at me 'cause I kind of made out with some guy last night. He kicked me out and I was wondering if-"

Kakashi slammed the door in his face.

"Oh come on! It's only until Raidou gets over it! It won't take long, really!"

Kakashi decided then that they weren't keeping the guest room. He realized that the only guest they would be getting wasn't exactly one he wanted to stay in their house.

xXxXxX

"We made it man!" Kiba yelled as they walked out of the school in a group. They'd just finished their Biology regents.

"We should make t-shirts!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"I can see it: 'I survived Sophomore year.'"

"Barely."

"That would be perfect!"

Sasuke just shook his head as Naruto and Kiba went on with their t-shirt plans.

"We should put a picture of Old Snakey on there. But like, it would be all scribbled out so you could barely tell who it is." Kiba said.

"Kiba, you're being troublesome," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"You weren't saying that the other night." The brunette replied with a smirk.

"Oh! Shikamaru got burned!" Naruto shouted.

"Not really." The lazy teen responded.

"Dude, just shut up."

"You gonna stop fighting or do you want to miss the bus?" Sasuke asked, cutting into the bickering.

"Oh yeah, we should probably catch that," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "See you guys later!" He called back to the rest of his friends.

They clambered onto bus 8, making their way to the back. Sasuke took a seat on the inside, Naruto sat next to him and layed back across his legs. "I am so glad that's over," the blonde stated. "Smooth sailing from here."

"What makes you say that?"

"That's what everybody says isn't it? Tenth is a bitch but eleventh and twelveth are so fuckin' easy it totally makes up for it."

"Just because everyone else says it doesn't mean it's true." Sasuke reminded Naruto, brushing a strand of blond hair out of blue eyes.

"They were right about tenth, weren't they?"

Sasuke paused for a moment. Oh yeah, they were right about tenth.

"S'what I thought." Naruto smirked slightly.

"Shut up."

xXxXxX

That night the whole group of friends sat around a fire, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores (Chouji had deemed himself 'keeper of the food', needless to say no one else was getting a whole lot). Sasuke watched in amusement as Naruto picked a slightly burnt marshmallow off his stick and burned his tongue on it. "Let it cool off, loser."

"I know!" Naruto snapped, scrunching up his nose and managing to look more adorable than angry, "Stop being such a bastard. You're supposed to be nice to your boyfriend."

"That's bull! Me and Shikamaru are horrible to each other!" Kiba said.

"Stop being so loud," aforementioned lazy guy said.

"See what I mean?"

"Your marshmallow's on fire." Shikamaru stated.

"Fuck!" Kiba said, pulling it out and blowing on it. It dropped off the stick and burnt right up in the fire.

"That was a waste of a good marshmallow," Chouji said with a slightly menacing glare at Kiba.

"Yeah. Wanna toss me another one?"

Chouji complied, chucking another one at Kiba's face where it bounced off and landed on the ground. The brunette picked it up and stuck it on his stick before holding it over the fire at a safe distance.

"Dude, you know what? We're almost two years away from college." He said, staring in a zoned-out way at the fire.

"That's pretty frickin' sick."

"I know, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. The way Kiba and Naruto talked got annoying after a while. And when they were happy they only got worse about it.

The group lapsed into silence for a moment. Each teen just holding a marshmallow over the fire. It wasn't necessarily that they'd run out of things to say, none of them ever really did (except for Shino who never really had anything to say in the first place). They just didn't feel the need to be talking at that precise moment. All of them realized that they had just gotten past a huge year in their lives.

When Naruto set another marshmallow on fire the silence broke. "Oh, shit!" he yelled. He oulled it out of the fire, narrowly missing Sasuke's face in the process.

"Naruto you fucktard, watch it!" The raven yelled. He grabbed Naruto's stick and blew out the marshmallow for him.

"You're being mean again!" Naruto pouted.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned in to place a kiss on the blond's lips. Kiba wolf whistled from the other side of the fire.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed pulling his perfectly golden-brown marshmallow off the stick.

"Is anything not troublesome?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

Kiba shook his head. "Chouji want to hand me a marshmallow? Like, not in my face? Better yet just give me the bag."

"Forget it, you're not getting the bag." Chouji said.

"Dude, give me the bag. We've got like four!"

Chouji glared at Kiba in challenge. Kiba got up and lunged for the bag, Chouji held it out of reach. Kiba growled and tackled Chouji to the ground. "Real smart, let's fight near the fire," Shikamaru said. Kiba finally managed to wrench the bag of marshmallows out of Chouji's grip. He went back to his seat with a triumphant look on his face, sticking a marshmallow on his stick.

A few moments later and Kiba went to stick another marshmallow on his stick. "No!" Chouji yelled.

Kiba quirked a brow, "What?"

"That's the last marshmallow," Chouji stated, staring at the bag.

"I know." Kiba reached for it and roasted it.

"Kiba!" Chouji yelled.

Kiba just smirked, popping the barely cooked marshmallow into his mouth.

"You shouldn't have done that," Shikamaru drawled.

"Why the hell-"

Kiba found himself being tackled by Chouji. "You ate the last one in the bag!" He yelled with a wild look on his face.

"Dude, chill! It was just a marshmallow! You can have the rest if you want!"

"But it was the last one!"

"I told you you shouldn't have eaten it." Shikamaru grabbed another bag of marshmallows.

xXxXxX

Later that night the boys were all still sitting aorund the fire. They were sitting closer to the somewhat dieing fire. No one felt like getting up to put more wood on it. Iruka had come out half an hour earlier to tell them it was midnight. The group had regarded it as something of little importance and continued to sit out there.

After a while they'd started reminiscing over the things that had happened that year. Though they skirted around the subject of what happened with Sasuke and Orochimaru.

"I'm just glad we don't have any more Health classes with Genma. I mean, having to learn about sex is bad enough, but the class on positions was a bit over the top." Kiba said.

"A bit? I should have gotten Raidou for that," Sasuke replied.

"Whatever, it's over. Thanks the gods!"

"But you know what? Even though this sucked ass, it wasn't that bad," Naruto said, smiling at he fire.

"'Kay, make some sense there Naruto."

"Like, shit happened, and it was bad. But good stuff happened too. You and Shikamaru hooked up, and me and Sasuke hooked up. But really, I don't think I would have made it through this year without you guys."

"Aww, I'm touched loser," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Dude, shut up. I'm serious!"

"I get what you mean," Kiba said, "Hey, you guys gotta swear we're not going to be those friends that stop being friends when they go away to college. 'Cause that would suck."

"Hell no we're not gonna stop being friends!" Naruto yelled. Similar agreements went around the circle.

The friends sat there until the fire died. This was their moment to celebrate the beginning of something new. Something that didn't suck. They'd had a bad year, sure. Having friends there helped them make it through though. No matter what kind of slump they were in as long as they still had their friendship they supposed they could get out of it.

**The end**

* * *

**-sniff- My first real fic. It's over. But not really. There's more to it. The sequel is coming kind of soonishsortofnotreally. Before the end of this year. I'm guessing.**

**And just think of what could happen. There's so many loose ends and all that. Orochimaru got away. Itachi hasn't been seen in years. The sequel will rock the world. I promise.**

**Anyways, your review are what made me feel really driven to write this thing. And your final thoughts will be so appreciated. -hearts-  
LeKunoichi**


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